Onychomycosis – a small step for quality of care

Abstract

Onychomycosis is a fungal infection of the nail unit, representing the most common nail disorder and accounting for 50% all nail diseases. Unfortunately, many patients are mismanaged, as physicians routinely treat onychomycosis empirically, falsely believing that they can make the diagnosis based on history and clinical inspection alone. We propose and provide evidence for why the diagnosis of onychomycosis should be confirmed by objective methods in each patient before initiating treatment.

Keywords:

• Diagnosis
• Nail dystrophy
• Onychomycosis
• Treatment

Declaration of funding

This commentary was not funded.

Declaration of financial/other relationships

S.R.L. has disclosed that she has served on the advisory board of Sandoz. R.K.S. has disclosed that he is a consultant and speaker for multiple companies, including Valeant.

CMRO peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.