Safety of current therapies for onychomycosis

INTRODUCTION: Onychomycosis is the most common nail disease seen in clinical practice. Treatment options include systemic and topical therapies, as well as devices. Following clinical and mycologic diagnosis, treatment must be individualized, accounting for disease severity, infecting organism(s), comorbidities, patient characteristics and drug/device efficacy. Safety is the most important consideration in choosing the most appropriate therapeutic modality.

AREAS COVERED: This review covers currently available treatments for onychomycosis, with an emphasis on safety and tolerability. Medications and devices were analyzed for side effects, drug-drug interactions, and safety during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

EXPERT OPINION: Systemic antifungals offer greater efficacy for onychomycosis treatment but are limited by risks of systemic toxicity and drug-drug interactions. The risk of terbinafine-induced hepatotoxicity is negligible in healthy patients. Systemic therapies, especially azole antifungals, are associated with numerous drug-drug interactions, some of which are life-threatening and fatal. Thus, a detailed medication history is critical before prescribing these medications. Topical antifungals are well tolerated and generally safe, with only potential local side effects. Systemic and topical onychomycosis treatments should not be prescribed during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Laser therapy is likely less effective than systemic and topical therapies, but may be safely used during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2020

Erschienen:

2020

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:19

Enthalten in:

Expert opinion on drug safety - 19(2020), 11 vom: 29. Nov., Seite 1395-1408

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Ricardo, Jose W [VerfasserIn]
Lipner, Shari R [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Antifungal Agents
Azoles
Ciclopirox
Efinaconazole
Fluconazole
G7RIW8S0XP
Itraconazole
Journal Article
Lasers
Nail fungus
Onychomycosis
Review
Safety
Tavaborole
Terbinafine

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 11.03.2021

Date Revised 17.04.2022

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1080/14740338.2020.1829592

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM315607319