Laser Nail Fungus

If your toenails appear yellow, brittle or thickened, you may be suffering from a medical condition called Onychomycosis, or nail fungus. This is an extremely common problem, shared by up to 10% of the US population. If you are over 40, the number rises to 25% in that age group; and if you are over 60, sufferers from toe nail fungus can be as high as an estimated 50%! Up until very recently, treating nail fungus has been challenging due to the hardy nature of the fungus that resides under your nail. Topical medications, or lacquers, are largely ineffective and designed to mostly prevent the spread or worsening of the condition. Oral medications are estimated to be about 50% successful, but those drugs are not tolerated well by many patients and risk of liver damage is an overriding concern. The latest and most effective treatment for the removal of toe nail fungus is laser therapy. Within this category, the Q-Clear laser has produced the most promising and successful results and is the only device specifically FDA-approved for the treatment of toe nail fungus.

Your first step is to seek out a practitioner to verify if you do, in fact, have toe nail fungus. You can seek out a diagnosis from a Family Doctor, Dermatologist, Podiatrist or even a Plastic Surgeon.

The Q-Clear Laser uses short bursts of laser energy to target the fungus beneath the nail and destroy it. Depending upon the severity and advancement of your nail fungus, one treatment is typically all that is necessary to kill the fungus.

The physician will move the laser hand piece over the affected area in quick, short passes. Unlike some other lasers, there is very little sensation to the patient beyond some very mild warmth. A treatment usually lasts only a few minutes and the patient experiences absolutely no down-time after the procedure.

Upon a treatment with the Q-Clear Laser System, all of the nail fungus should be destroyed. Visual improvement, however, is not immediate, but rather requires your nail to grow out. Depending on how quickly your nails grow, you could see new clear nails appear, starting at the bottom of your nail, in a matter of only a few weeks. It could take, however, six months or longer for your old, diseased nail to completely grow out and be replaced by the new, clear nail.

The Q-Clear Laser System has arguably the most comprehensive and resoundingly positive clinical results of any treatment EVER used for nail fungus. In a controlled medical setting, using a single practitioner, over 100 patients were treated with varying degrees of onychomycosis. From this group, patient satisfaction was measured at 100% with the eventual appearance of significant to complete clear nails measured in 97% of cases. Only the most advanced cases of nail fungus did not report complete clearance, and in those rare cases, a simple follow-up treatment produced the desired result.

Besides its effectiveness, the Q-Clear distinguishes itself from other lasers primarily in the degree of patient comfort its treatments provide. Other lasers use the principle of heat in an attempt to destroy the nail fungus, which in turn can translate into significant patient intolerance of those treatments. Conversely, the shorter burst of Q-Switched Laser Energy employed by the Q-Clear Laser imparts only minimal heat detected by the patient. In short, treatments are highly tolerable and do not hurt.

The Q-Clear laser represents the pinnacle of nail fungus treatment so cost may be considered relative. Patients can spend several hundreds of dollars in oral or topical medications and not achieve anywhere near the degree of success as that of the Q-Clear Laser System.

Each practitioner is responsible for establishing their own pricing schedule and laser treatments as nail fungus is not currently covered by insurance. Cost will depend on the physician, your geographical location, and most importantly by the degree of nail fungus that you need treated. Keeping in mind only a single treatment is typically necessary, you may be presented with a fee of a few hundred dollars to several hundred dollars. For those who have successfully undergone treatments, they believe the service is worth every penny to restore beautiful nails.

Although the Q-Clear Laser System has recently been FDA-approved as the only Q-Switched Laser to treat nail fungus, it is hardly a new technology. It has actually been used and FDA-approved for other medical applications primarily in Dermatology since 2005. It is estimated that given its broad scope of application, the Q-Clear Laser has been safely used in over one million treatments since that time. There are no perceived risks to a patient seeking treatment for nail fungus using the Q-Clear Laser System.