Hello, I have had a nail fungus for a good ten years or so. When I first noticed it, I went to my doctor and he game me lamasil which I stopped taking after a few days since it had negative affects on me. Thereafter, I stopped taking care of it and just let it go for a good 7 or 8 years. I eventually grew up and started getting very self conscious of how it looked and wanted to wear sandals and flip flops and not have people think nasty things about me. A few years ago I went to my doctor again and he gave me a topical oil which I used for over a year and did not see any results. About two years ago, I noticed that a vertical brown line was starting to grow from the bottom up. I went to a dermatologist who took a sample of my nail but did not take a sample of the nail bed or from the cuticle. Biopsy came back as of course it being a fungus. He in turn gave me pills to take which I also had to stop taking since it was having a bad affect on my liver. After that, my dermatologist said that he would give me laser treatments which I did two of. They did not clear it but it looks a little bit better then what it was before. Still thick, yellow, crumbling below the nail, nail bed where new nail is growing is darker then the others and the brown line is still there. It is a thick brown line. How did I get this brown line? Did I get it because of the prolonged damage of the nail bed due to the years of having the nail fungus?
Doctor's Answer
You're most welcome. Nail Melanoma does not affect multiple nails together while Longitudunal Melanonychia (LM) often does. The fact that an additional nail is showing changes is nearly conclusive that this is LM, which as I said is harmless. However it would be best to see your doctor to get this confirmed since I cannot see the affected area.
I would recommend getting the entire nail removed if its the only one affected by fungus, but this will be solely to treat the fungus not because I thin ...
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