Toddler thick yellow toe nails

[Sandradale330]

Help! My 18 month old has super thick yellow toe nails. All are affected with 4 being so thick you can barely cut them. Started after hand foot and mouth disease which was 6 months ago. The doctor has not taken any clippings and recommended keeping the area clean and placing low grade anti final varnish on it which just isn’t working. Any suggestions?

How long have you been using the varnish?
Only asking because I’ve been using Daktarin on a nail infection daily for several months now & my nail is -Finally!- almost clear. It takes a long time.

You do have to wait for the affected bit of nail to grow and be cut off, which takes ages, it won’t change the yellowing and thickness of the infected bit but the new nail growing in should be normal. You need to keep applying until all the yellow, thick nail has been cut off so it doesn’t spread to the new bit of the nails.

Hi - similar thing is happening to our 21 month old daughter. Had hand foot and mouth disease and now two toe nails have started to discolour and thicken. Were you able to get a prognosis? Our doctor hasn't been helpful. Thanks

I took her to see a private dermatologist on Harley St who said he thought it might be psoriasis and that there was no cure. The biggest waste of money for a 5 min consult. Please do let me know if you get any further. She is now 3 years old and the nails are the same. No skin issues anywhere else on the body.

Nail deformities post viral infections such as HFM are normal and typically the nail will fall off. However, ours have remained.

Thanks for your replies.

We have bought a tea tree oil varnish that we will start using.

I suspect, as you suggest, it's a fungal infection.

A podiatrist might be better than a dermatologist. It will probably just take time and patience while the affected nails grow out though.