Laser Fungal Nail Treatment

Laser Fungal Nail Treatment

Toenail Fungus Laser Treatment - New Hope Or Same Old Hype?
By Heather S. Stewart

Toenail fungus laser treatment has caught people's attention because it offers a painless and side effect-free method of treating toenail fungal infections. Before the invention of laser treatment for toenail fungus, people had to rely either on pharmaceuticals that could cause serious side effects (especially on the liver), or they had to turn to home remedies such as applying tea tree oil, lavender oil, chlorine bleach, Vick's Vaporub, and even beer to the toenails. As you can imagine, these alternative treatments rarely work.

Laser treatment for toenail fungus uses infrared lasers to generate applied heat that can kill the toe fungus in a 10 to 30 minute application. It is true that toe nail fungus laser treatment is painless to the patient and has no side effects. Furthermore, it's been proven to work in clinical trials...but to what extent?

The Truth about this Treatment

The truth is that toenail fungus laser treatment is not the great new miracle cure that it's often made out to be by the developers of the laser methods and the podiatrists who apply them. The method has only been proven to work in very small trials (less than 50 people) that are not really significant. So far, nobody really knows the cure rate for toenail fungal infections treated by laser but this lack of verified information serves as a favorable ground for spectacular claims released by biased marketers. Should you believe such claims? Personally, I would take them with a pinch of salt!

Moreover, people opting for a toe nail fungus laser cure very often require repeated treatments and they have to wait four to six months before they know whether the treatment worked, because it takes that long for the old nail to grow out and the new one to grow in. These treatments cost an average of $800 to $1200 for the initial visit, with any repeat visit averaging $500. Health insurance policies don't cover laser treatment for toe nail fungus because it is considered a "cosmetic" application.

Is it a Good Deal?

So, for you to find out if you are among those for whom toe nail fungus laser treatment does not work, you would have to wait four to six months after your initial treatment, and then you may need to undergo repeat visits. By the time you find out that you need to abandon hope, you may have spent close to $3000 and still have the recurring fungi problem. That's not a very good deal...

Laser treatment for toenail fungus does offer some hope. But don't believe any hype touting it as the embarrassing problem's cure-all or perfect solution.

Laser Fungal Nail Treatment