Assessment of suitability of Excimer laser in treating onychomycosis

Overview

It is known that UV-C radiation kills fungus and so we wanted to verify the hypothesis that the use of Excimer laser could be an alternative method for treating onychomycosis - nail fungus. The aim of the first stage of this work was to determine the transmission, reflection and absorption of nails. In the following stage we focused on irradiation of fungi. Our final task is to assess whether it is possible to determine the parameters of radiation ( a total dose,a dose per pulse frequence, a repetition rate, a number of pulses) for which the elimination of fungi would be the most effective but without damaging the nail and soft tissue underneath it . The results so far have showed that UV-C radiation does not pass through a fingernail to such an extent that it could damage the soft tissue beneath it. Fungi are destroyed by application of only small doses of radiation using the Excimer laser. To determin the modulation parameters of the Excimer laser radiation for the treatment of onychomycosis will require additional measurements.

Keywords:
Excimer laser, UV-C radiation, nails , onychomycosis