ANSWER: Nail technicians can't actually treat fungal infection, but they should be able to recognize some of the signs of this problem. The green spots frequently seen on clients with extensions are more often pseudomonas and frequently are confused for fungus. (See the next question.) Fungus organisms love to infest wide, open spaces. Keeping nails trimmed short will help prevent this, thus reducing trauma and creating less area for the fungus to invade.

Yes, for many years growers have used cinnamon for spot treatments of fungal and bacterial infections on their orchids. The plants should be damp so the cinnamon will adhere to it. The cinnamon should be dusted on not poured on. Plants can die as a result of too much. It works well as an antibiotic for orchid wounds also. There have been reports of it being used as an insecticide as well. I read about using cinnamon but that didn't work. Then I tried Hydrogen Peroxide (yes peroxide).

Fungus thrives in a dark, damp environment as is found once the foot is placed in a sock or stocking and then in a shoe. Further, nails affected by fungus often thicken, making it difficult for the antifungal nail medicine to penetrate the source of the affected area.

ANSWER: Nails may be grooved in two directions: from side to side or from the cuticle outward. (Do not confuse these with normal ridges that often appear in older clients.) When the grooves are from the cuticle outward, they are called longitudinal grooves of the nail, and these are most commonly caused by a cyst, or a little growth in the skin next to the proximal nail fold. To treat this type of cyst, called a myxoma, a doctor typically performs some form of surgery.

Suprax? can be used to treat certain infections of the throat, middle ear, airways, urinary and genital systems caused by susceptible strains of certain bacteria.

Usually, germs get into your system through your urethra—the tube that carries urine from your bladder to the outside of your body. The germs that usually cause these infections live in your large intestine and are found in your stool. Once the germs are inside your urethra, they can travel up into your bladder and kidneys and cause an infection. Women tend to get more bladder infections than men.

Dermatophytes are a type of fungus that can grow on the skin, hair, and nails. They do not invade the deeper tissues of the body. The most common dermatophyte, Trichophyton rubrum, causes most cases of athlete's foot infection, which in turn can infect the toenails. Dermatophytes can be transmitted by direct contact or by contact with objects such as clothing, shoes, nail clippers, nail files, shower and locker room floors, and carpet. Dermatophytes cause about 90% of fungal toenail infections.

No! In recent years we have learned that as many as half of all ear infections are caused by viruses. These resolve on their own without any specific therapy. Some ear infections are caused by bacteria. Antibiotics can be helpful in treating these infections. However, even bacterial ear infections often resolve on their own without antibiotic therapy.

Antibiotics are the first line of defense against ear infections. Different germs are killed by different antibiotics, some being more difficult to kill than others. Since we cannot easily take cultures of the infection behind the eardrum, it may be necessary to use more that one antibiotic before finally obtaining an uninfected ear. Occasionally no antibiotic seems to work. When this happens it becomes necessary to puncture the eardrum to let the infection out before a complication occurs.

Yes optometrists are able to diagnose and treat many medical conditions of the eye. Pink eye, corneal abrasions, foreign bodies and eye injuries are among the most common problems treated by the doctors in our office. LASIK is the most advanced method of changing the shape of the cornea to improve the way light is focused by the eye. The new LASIK procedure features increased comfort and faster recovery time to better vision compared with an alternate procedure known as PRK.

Controlling infection rates requires that hospital management assures that proper planning and dust control practices are in place. This includes: Exposure of the small but growing population with impaired immune systems is a concern. Molds can cause infections in susceptible people, particularly in hospital settings. Cases of hospital acquired respiratory fungal infection have been associated with construction activity, contaminated air filters, air conditioning systems and open windows.

ANSWER: The most common bacterial infection of the nails is due to pseudomonas, and is sometimes referred to as "green nails" because of the greenish-colored nail plate. Pseudomonas is generally caused from air pockets under the nail plate that allow mositure to get in and the green pigment-producing organism thrives in the moist environment. This is usually accompanied by onycholysis (lifting nail), so a dermatologist should intervene.

Answer: I treat people of all ages from newborn to elderly who have problems sleeping or with nightmares. Specific problems include:

Recurrent urinarty tract infections are almost always caused by bacteria that reside in the vagina going up the very short urethra into the bladder. This is not caused by poor hygene. Women who have a tendency toward recurrent infections have particulary sticky cells in their bladder lining that allows the bacteria to stick and cause symtoms such as burning on urination, frequency and occasionally even blood in the urine. It is not understood why centain women have this condition.

I have finally visited my doc to discuss the results of my PFT. Only one test was done and that was a flow ratio...how much i blow out to suck in... My expected ratio based on age etc is 90%. I did 74%. One year ago i did 72%. So not much improvement but certainly no worse. When i did the recent test i was having lots of trouble with post nasal drip and a wet chest cough and the feeling of chest congestion. At that time there was a lot of heavy smoke in the air due to forest fires.

Answer: The actual cause of varicose veins is inefficient, faulty vein valves. These valves don't close properly, allowing blood to leak back with gravity and pool in the vein. This causes the veins to bulge and stretch and result in many unpleasant side effects such as aching and throbbing pain, heavy and tired legs, and poor circulation.

Suprax? does not kill viruses, so it is not appropriate for viral infections like common cold or flu.

Germs that live in the large intestine and are in stool can get in the urethra. This is the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body. Then germs can get into the bladder and kidneys.

Well, swimmer's ear (otitis externa) is probably the most common type of ear infection during the summer months and occurs when water is trapped in the ear canal, usually from swimming and spending a lot of time in the water, causing bacteria to grow. Other causes of otitis externa can be anything that breaks the skin in the ear canal causing bacterial growth such as cotton-tipped applicators, bobby pins, or vigorous scratching.