Pedi-curing the Landfill Problem
Not So Fungi
Have your nails been growing oddly? Do they have dark spots or wavy bumps? A wee bit of stink? It could be dermatophytes. Otherwise known as toe nail bugs, a form of fungus amongus!
Here’s the Wikipedia low-down: “A dermatophyte is a parasitic fungus that infects the skin. The term embraces the imperfect fungi of the genera Epidermophyton, Microsporum and Trichophyton.”
Dermatophytes (name based on the Greek for “skin plants”) are a common label for a group of three types of fungus that commonly causes skin disease in animals and humans. These anamorphic (asexual or imperfect) genera are: Microsporum, Epidermophyton and Trichophyton.
There are about 40 species in these three genera. Species capable of reproducing sexually belong in the teleomorphic genus, Arthroderma, of the Ascomycota (See Teleomorph, anamorph and holomorph for more information on this type of fungal life cycle).
Dermatophytes cause infections of the skin, hair and nails due to their ability to obtain nutrients from keratinized material. The organisms colonize the keratin tissues and inflammation is caused by host response to metabolic by-products.
Some of these infections are known as ringworm or tinea. Toe- and fingernail infections are referred to as onychomycosis. Dermatophytes usually do not invade living tissues, but colonize the outer layer of the skin. Occasionally the organisms do invade subcutaneous tissues, resulting in kerion development.
For more information and to photos, visit this site.
It’s Infectious
I put all of this information in about nail infections because if you are a woman and reading this right now, one out of two of you have polish on your toes. In fact, I would go so far as to say you got a pedicure two months ago.
I suspect the pedicure color has grown out from the cuticle and you trim the end of the toe nail and say to yourself, “I’ve got to get in for a pedicure.” Plus, one out of three of you reading this are wearing acrylic fingernails. Which is a wee bit worse than wearing polish alone!
As your botanical beauty advisor, I encourage you to take the polish off, as summer is over (well, almost over in Arizona) and you will be wearing more shoes with closed toes. If you want to wear it all the time, try and go botanical to free up some chemical absorption time on your body.
Good luck on going botanical in your beauty and reducing the consumption of non-recyclable glass and plastics along the way!
For more information, contact www.makeupuniversity.com.
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