Frustrated by this ignorance, a team of scientists published a new study in the Transactions of the Mycological Society of India, revealing the underlying causes and, more importantly, the dire consequences of nail fungus.
According to the scientists’ research, the root causes of onychomycosis are fungi and yeasts that thrive on keratin. Once they infect our nails, they degrade the keratin, which is the component of our nails that makes them strong.
The nail does have protective layers, such as the cuticle and distal sole horn. As we all know from looking at our own cuticles, these are often damaged, which gives organisms a chance to invade.