Onychomycosis: epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment in a changing landscape

Onychomycosis is an often overlooked and/or undertreated disease. This may be in part due to an under appreciation among both physicians and patients of its impact on quality of life and the potential for significant complications, from tinea corporis and cruris, to bacterial superinfection. Some health care providers are unaware of the effective low-risk treatments currently available. Changing demographic characteristics such as the relative aging of the population; the increasing prevalence of diabetes and peripheral vascular disease, and widespread iatrogenic immunosuppression; and changes in lifestyle practices such as earlier and greater participation in sports, are likely to lead to an increased prevalence of onychomycosis in both adults and children. Two topical onychomycosis treatments, efinaconazole 10% solution, and tavaborole 5% solution were recently approved by the FDA. This article reviews the state of knowledge and describes, briefly, these new treatment options.