Onychomycosis: A common and potentially significant medical condition

Onychomycosis is a relatively common fungal infection that lies underneath the nail plate or nail bed. It most often presents as yellowish, white, black or green discolouration of the nail. The infected nail may also appear thickened, brittle and/or distorted. In severe cases from long-standing infection (where all the tissues of the nail apparatus have been simultaneously infected), the nail plate becomes friable and nail structure is lost. This results in total dystrophy of the nail plate, and the infected nail may break up and fall off .