Does Wearing Nail Polish Cause Toenail Fungus?
Yes but that’s probably not what you have!
- Nail polish can cause toenail fungus by dehydrating the toenail and causing nail damage.
- Fungus can then invade through the small cracks and get under your toenail.
- But if your toenails are white, you probably have a condition known as keratin granulations!
Are Your Toenails White, Yellow or Black?
1) White Toenails: Keratin Granulations.
- White toenails are usually just due to the dehydration of your toenails.
- The nail plate is made up of a substance called keratin.
- When dehydrated keratin becomes white keratin granulations.
- Read below for the complete guide to keratin granulations!
Keratin Granulations – White Chalky Toenails.
The #1 cause of discolored nails after removing your toenail polish is a white chalky like substance called keratin granulations.
- These occur because nail polish has harmful chemicals in it like formaldehyde and toleune.
- Nail polish remover has acetone within it.
- There is a way to correct this by remoisturizing your nails:
Keratin Granulations – The Complete Treatment Guide.
Can I Keep Using Toenail Polish?
Yes you can!
- Just be aware that it will continue to dry out your nails.
- You can wear it less frequently or you can try treating your nails before polishing them again.
- There are even brands of toenail polish that will not dehydrate your nails.
- Trust me, these brands are very well promoted!
How do I know for sure that this is not toenail fungus?
- My recommendation: treat is like keratin granulations.
- If the treatment does not make it better after 2 weeks, then it can still be toenail fungus.
- Don’t worry, 2 weeks will not put your toenail fungus in any danger.
- If it is a superficial toenail fungus, it should be very easily curable anyway.
- If it does seem like toenail fungus or it is yellow, head to #3: toenail fungus.
2) White Marks On Toenails: Leukonychia.
White spots on the toenails are due to a condition known as leukonychia:
- These are permanent until the toenail grows out.
- Unfortunately the toenail grows very slowly.
- The toenail only grows at a rate of 1mm/ day.
3) Yellow Thick Toenails: Toenail Fungus.
The second most common cause of discolored toenails.
- This is usually a type called superficial white onychomycosis that is not as serious as most nail fungus; this type is very easily cured with a topical cream that you can put on your nails.
- If you want to use toenail polish, be more worried about dry nails and how to rehydrate them and not how to prevent fungus.
Is the toenail fungus dangerous?
- The toenail fungus should be very curable with proper treatment.
- Superifical white onychomycosis is very easily treatable with antifungal medication.
- It is not the type of fungus that takes root deep under your toenail.
4)Black, Red or Blue Toenail: Subungual Hematoma.
Jogger’s toe is essentially just “overuse toe”.
- The trick with this one is it sneaks up on people without any pain!
- Be aware that you can still have bleeding underneath your toenail and it doesn’t have to be extremely painful.
- For example I just saw a woman had a scary black toenail without any cause.
- But the more I talked to her I realized she bought new shoes and started Zumba classes.
- She was exercising more, had small shoes and was not suffering from any pain!
Even if there is no pain, light micro-trauma from walking or running could have caused you to develop little black spots underneath your toenails that are the result of light bleeding.
- Unless there is pain this is usually very harmless and it should not be something that you worry about.
- Over time the nail will grow out and the black spot will disappear unless you continue irritating it.
For more on Does Wearing Nail Polish Cause Toenail Fungus?
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