A Closer Look: How Toenail Lasers Work

People show off more of their bodies in the summer. It’s warm, so you don’t have to worry about frostbite if you’re not wearing enough layers! In fact, lighter, looser, shorter clothes allow your body to breathe and avoid overheating in warm weather. People show off their feet, too, in cute sandals and old flip-flops. For anyone with fungal nails, though, this can be nerve-wracking. You don’t want to reveal your toes. Still, you don’t have to let an infection stifle your feet. Toenail lasers treat the infection fast without any recovery time required.

Toenail lasers have been around for a little while now, and each year more and more people use them to clear up fungal nail infections. If you’re wary of taking the plunge and committing to laser therapy for toenails, though, you naturally want to know more about how it works. The good news is that the procedure is very safe and has no known side effects that harm your toes.

Laser therapy for fungal nails uses specific wavelengths of highly intense light to destroy the pathogen under your nails. The focused beam is directed at the infected nail, which it is able to pass through easily. As it does so, it reaches the infected nail bed underneath. The light is set to a specific wavelength that allows it to vaporize the infected cells, effectively destroying them in the nail bed and the hard keratin. At this wavelength, though, it doesn’t harm your nail or your skin.

This is fast, efficient, and has no side effects. It’s largely painless as well, though a few people have reported a “warming sensation” in their toes. Since the light is able to pass through the hard keratin, it’s far more efficient than topical medications. Since it’s fast-acting and has no side effects, it can be easier to deal with than oral medicines, too. It will take at least three treatments with the laser to truly do away with the infection, especially since it has a high rate of coming back, but each treatment is short.