This week I turned down three patients for laser nail fungus treatment. That’s right, I told three people NOT to pay me $600 each, $1800!

All three had separation of the nail form the nail bed soft tissue attachment. This causes the nail to look different in color in the area that it is separated.

This discoloration of the nail looks like nail fungus to the untrained eye. Very often, people come to my office with this separation of the nail from the nail bed, thinking it is fungus when it is not!

Laser will not fix this problem. Neither will topical medicines alone.

Treatment for separation of nails:

The only fix for this is to remove the part of the nail that is separated, all the way back to the area of good soft tissue attachment with cutting and grinding of the nail.

Once this removal is performed, then I advise patients to use topical medicine for the nails. I have formulated my own topical medicine for this purpose. This medicine also has an anti fungal medicine in it.

My product is called NailPure by Dr. Silverberg. The anti fungal ingredient is Tolnaftate. The multiple oil vehicle allows the Tolnaftate to penetrate the hard nail plate to reach the fungus.
In the case of nail plate separation, however, it’s not the anti fungal that is important. It is the multiple oil vehicle. It contains tea tree oil, manuka tree oil, jojoba oil, sunflower seed oil, and sweet almond oil (and vitamin E). This unique combination of essential oils penetrate, emulsify, soften and hydrate the nail and surrounding skin. Additionally, NailPure contains acetic acid that whitens the nail to make it appear more normal very quickly. Acetic acid is a natural acid that makes vinegar have its characteristic smell and taste.

By treating the skin and nail, NailPure allows the nail to grow in and reattach to the nail bed having normal color and looking healthy.

The best topical antifungal for nails also works on nail bed separation:

Wow, what a tangent! I was talking about doing the right thing for these three patients, and got excited about introducing my new topical nail fungus treatment. I spent one and a half years working with my chemist in Florida to perfect NailPure. I tried many different combinations of ingredients and vehicles until I came up with the proper formula. I tested it on dozens of my patients and waited patiently while their nails grew in healthier without fungus, whiter, thinner, and more clear. I then discovered how well it worked for nails that were separated from the nail bed. I used to use topical urea gel or cream for these patients but I discovered that NailPure worked so much better.

Honestly, when I started developing NailPure, I did not think to use if for nail separation, but when I discovered how well the oil vehicle worked on the nail and skin, it was obvious. I had stumbled upon a new, amazing treatment for a previously very difficult problem to solve.

Going back to my original topic, these three patients were very grateful that I saved them *$531 by not performing the laser for nail fungus, that would have been unsuccessful. *Note: $600 minus $69 for the NailPure.

Unfortunately, many doctors as not as honest, ethical and altruistic as I am. They would have performed the laser nail fungus treatment for the money. You see, studies have shown the laser nail fungus treatment to be 70-80% effective. These doctors hide behind that statistic and tell these people that is why the laser did not work.

Other doctors may be mistaken to make an improper diagnosis of nail fungus when in fact it is separation of the nail plate. In my opinion, this is why many nail fungus treatments fail. It was never fungus.

Choosing a provider for Laser Nail Fungus Treatment:

In summary, when choosing a provider to take care of your nail fungus, make sure you go to a doctor that you know and trust. Get a recommendation from a friend or another doctor (or come to NYC to my practice). Question your doctor about if it is really nail fungus or separation of the nail plate. When in doubt, your doctor will send a (painless) clipping to the lab for evaluation under the microscope. And lastly, be weary of doctors advertising for laser nail fungus treatments. A doctor spending money on advertising will be looking for return on investment and willing to perform lasers on everyone that comes through the door inquiring. Keep in mind too, that the lasers are very expense pieces of equipment and doctors will be looking to pay off their leases… However, with all at said, most doctors are still ethical. There are just a few that are not to look out for.

As always, feel free to send me email questions on this topic. Dr. Sergi