Abstract
Onychomycosis accounts for 50% of all nail disease cases and is commonly caused by dermatophytes. It was primarily considered a cosmetic problem but has been garnering attention lately due to its persistent nature and difficult treatment with relapses. With prolonged treatment duration and high cost involved in treating onychomycosis, several attempts have been made in overcoming the rigid nail barrier. The conventional treatment of onychomy-cosis involves oral and topical therapy. The oral antifungal agents though quite effective, are hepato-toxic and cause drug-drug interactions. Topical therapy is more patient compliant being devoid of such adverse effects but it suffers from another setback of improper nail penetration. Amorolfine and ciclopirox nail lacquers are popular market products. Since decades, efforts have been made to enhance topical delivery for efficiently treating ony-chomycosis. Mechanical, physical and chemical methods have been em-ployed. Despite all the attempts made, the nail delivery issues are far from be-ing solved. Recently, the focus has shifted to novel drug delivery systems like nanoparticles, microemulsions, polymeric films and nail lacquers for en-hanced drug permeation and localized therapy. The research around the world is exploring their potential as effective treatment options. This review intends to further explore the novel delivery strategies to treat a persistent fungal in-fection like onychomycosis.
Highlights
Onychomycosis was not regarded as a serious infection until quite recently
With prolonged treatment duration and high cost involved in treating onychomycosis, several attempts have been made in overcoming the rigid nail barrier
Onychomycosis remains a persistent and invasive fungal infection with the affected part of nail difficult to reach for treatment
Summary
Onychomycosis was not regarded as a serious infection until quite recently. It started gaining attention after the approval of terbinafine for oral therapy by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1996. The oral antifungal therapy for onychomycosis usually lasts long and brings a set of adverse effects, especially hepato- toxicity and drug interactions. With their limited availability at the site of action, the prescribed dose is escalated or the frequency is increased. Many techniques have been devised to facilitate topical delivery to the nail like mechanical, physical and chemical. Every technique comes with its own set of issues and there still does not exist a method in the market which can provide the desired result in less time [7] This leaves a lot of space for developing novel strategies to bring about efficient drug delivery and patient compliance. This review will focus on discussing such novel strategies which hold a lot of potential for treating persistent issue like onychomycosis [9, 10]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
