Article: If you get a fungal infection on your toenails or fingernails, you can see your doctor for some oral antifungal medications. Nail fungus can be treated with topical medication, oral medication or a combination of the two. Your doctor will most likely advise you to take the medication for six to 12 weeks; however, it may take up to four months for your fungal infection to fully resolve. Most topical agents cannot penetrate the nail plate and cure rates are less than 10%. The best-penetrating formulation of ciclopirox is a nail lacquer Penlac, which you apply daily for up to one year. The downside of this lacquer is that it is costly and recurrences are common; however, it is safer than oral therapy. When topical therapy is insufficient, oral agents should be considered.  Talk to your doctor about the benefits versus the risks of oral therapy.  Even with successful therapy, relapse is common.  Two most common agents used in oral therapy are itraconazole (Sporanox) and terbinafine (Lamisil).    These drugs interact with many other medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, so make sure you tell your doctor if you are taking any other medications or supplements. They can also have severe side effects, including irregular heartbeat, liver damage, decreased urine, joint pain, loss of hearing, vomiting, depression, and more. Call your doctor immediately if you experience any of these serious side effects.  Oral antifungals also require you to undergo continuous monitoring and lab tests to check for side effects. Oftentimes, the combination of an oral medication and a topical medication lead to the best results when it comes to clearing up a fungal infection. Your doctor might suggest you do a combination of these treatments. Your doctor can prescribe these to you if needed. For fungal infections that are extremely severe and/or painful, and that cannot be resolved with medical treatments alone, surgery is an option. The infected part of the nail may be cut out and removed, and the healing time will be the time it takes to grow a new nail back in its place. Surgery is used as a last resort for fungal infections that are not able to be successfully treated in any other way. You may want to try natural treatments on you fungus. If you are using an oral treatment talk to your doctor or pharmacist before trying an alternative treatment, as they may interact. Snakeroot extract can be applied to your affected nail every third day for a month, then twice a week for the second month, and once a week for the third month. Tea tree oil is also can be helpful.  Apply twice daily directly onto the nail. Even after you have cleared up and successfully treated your fungal infection, it is still important to practice preventative measures to diminish the risk of the infection recurring. It is very common for fungal infections to come back, and it is in your hands to take daily steps to prevent this.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Know what medications are available if you do develop a fungal infection. Try topical nail treatments. Ask about oral medications. Try combination therapy. Opt for surgical nail removal. Consider an alternative approach to treating nail fungus. Note that repeat infections are common.