**8. Prevention and education**

As CO commonly recurs with overall onychomycosis recurrence rate of 10–53%, additional measures should be implemented to prevent this recurrence. For the clinicians, it is imperative to confirm the diagnosis and identify the infectious agent before providing treatment. Assessing and treating the comorbidities is also crucial since some comorbidities are risk factors for onychomycosis, also portend as poor prognostic factors. Tinea pedis should be treated properly as the infected skin can play a role as reservoir for the pathogens [3].

When the patients are diagnosed, the clinicians should provide them with optimal onychomycosis therapy, provide counseling on the expectations and adherence to treatment. The patients should also be provided with information to maintain hand and foot hygiene, avoid occlusive shoes, trim the nails regularly, use broad toed shoes with absorbent materials, and avoid barefoot walking in locations with

*Candida Onychomycosis: Mini Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96650*

abundant fungal density (e.g., swimming pool, communal showers, gymnasium floors). Good sanitization measures should be taken for previous infected socks and shoes. Socks should be washed with hot water (60 °C) for 45 minutes and shoes should be exposed to ultraviolet rays or ozone or can be sprayed with antifungal sprays. The close contacts or family members of the patients should be examined and treated if they suffer from onychomycosis or tinea pedis [3, 18].

Prophylaxis can be considered for patients with high probability to suffer from recurrence. Topical antifungal agent in the form of solution or lacquer can be applied once daily for a month then twice weekly for at least two years after the cure have been achieved [3].
