Hi I'm Dr. Christopher Segler. If your toenails are thick, yellow and discolored it might be because they are infected with toenail fungus. When the fungus infects the toenails and starts to grow, it actually penetrates the toenail and starts to separate the layers of keratin which causes light to refract differently in the areas of infection. Sometimes the fungus causes dark green discoloration, big white spots in the toenail, or yellowing areas but the earliest sign of a toenail infection is just a small white area of discoloration in the toenail. The fungal infection can spread to the other toenails. Over time the infection becomes worse, the toenail gradually becomes thicker and the nail plate can actually completely separate from the nail bed underneath. Laser treatment has been shown to be effective at removing toenail fungus. The laser that is used to treat toenail fungus is a 1064 nanometer wave-length YAG laser. The way that the toenail laser works remove the fungus is that is delivers laser light energy to gently heat the toenail bed and kill the toenail fungus and fungal spores. Unlike many other toenail fungus treatments, the laser penetrates all the way through the thick toenail to reach the toenail fungus. The laser actually directly damages some of the components of the fungus cell membranes and causes them to die. The laser treatment is non-invasive and it is not painful. Patients typically only feel a slight amount of heat in the toenails during the procedure. The laser beam itself is invisible. What you actually see is an aiming light which helps the podiatrist make certain that all areas of the toenail are treated with the laser. The laser treatment only takes about 30 minutes to treat all 10 toenails. Most patients will simply work on a laptop or read a book during the laser procedure. If you have thick yellow discolored toenails and want the newest and best treatment to kill the toenail fungus, we can bring the laser directly to you. At Doc On The Run we do house calls and bring the laser right to patient's homes so that they can have the laser treatment without the embarrassment of going to a doctor's office. If you think you have a toenail fungus infection you can speak to a San Francisco podiatrist and toenail expert directly by calling 415-308-0833.

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