Fast elimination of onychomycosis by hematoporphyrin derivative-photodynamic therapy

Abstract

Onychomycosis is a fungal nail disease and is one of the major onychopathy worldwide. Topical or oral antifungal therapies are used to treat this disease, but often they are inefficient and oral medications can even cause several side effects. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a well established technique and hence, may represent an alternative non invasive technique for the treatment of onychomycosis. In this work, we present a case of onychomycosis that was completely cured by using the porphyrin-photodynamic therapy. A 59-year-old patient, who had two nails with onychomycosis (the right and the left hallux, with more than thirty and ten years, respectively) caused by fungi was treated once a week for a period of six weeks. The nails were first treated and prepared by a specialist. An hour after the photosensitization, the nail was illuminated using a light source based on light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the red wavelength (630 nm, at a total dose of 54 J/cm2).