What Is the Treatment for Onychomycosis?
Onychomycosis is a fungal infection of the nails. Treatment decisions balance effectiveness, tolerability, and the patient's ability to use systemic therapy. The complete protocol below covers the full regimen and assessment timeline.
Treatment Approach
For most patients, oral antifungal therapy is the treatment of choice; for those who cannot tolerate or resist systemic treatment, a topical nail option may be considered.
Full regimen, drug selection, and duration in the complete protocol →
Clinical Goals
The target is cure of the infection. Because toenails grow slowly, assessment of treatment success takes nine to twelve months.
References
- Oral fluconazole is an option, but for most patients oral terbinafine is the treatment of choice because of its superior effectiveness, tolerability, and low cost.
- However, some patients resist systemic treatment, and ciclopirox nail lacquer (Penlac) can be offered together with information about its low cure rate.
- Because toenails grow slowly, assessment of cure takes nine to 12 months.
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