The New Approach to the Topical Therapy of Onychomycoses

Abstract

Onychomycosis is a fungal infection of nails of fingers of the hands or feet, resulting in thinning, and the subsequent destruction, discoloration and desquamation of the nail plate from the nail bed. The etiology of onychomycosis in most cases are dermatomycetes, Candida species and non-dermatomycetes filamentous fungi. The prevalence of onychomycosis in the general population is high and varies in different countries. Current approaches to the therapy include the use of systemic therapy, which is the main therapeutic approach, topical (local) therapy, administered to a specific group of patients and a number of non-drug treatments. When using any of the therapy the achieving of high clinical efficacy is a difficult task. The main problem is the inability to create sufficient concentrations of the active substance in the structure of the nail unit. At present, there is research data regarding a new drug compounds and the novel representatives of existing classes of antimycotics. One of the potential approaches to the treatment of onychomycosis may be the use of drugs, leading to a decrease in pH in the nail tissue and inhibition of the growth of fungi. This article provides general information about the epidemiology, etiology and pathogenesis of onychomycosis, and also a data on pharmacology and clinical studies of the new combined preparation for the therapy of onychomycosis will be presented for the first time.