I've had sort of ugly toenails most of my life.
They've always been a bit thick, but never discolored. Now, lately, they've been getting really dry and cracked easily. They're thicker than I remember ever seeing and they have a slight yellowish tint thruought the nail. All my nails are affected but my Big toes are the worst. They have always had a tendency to crack lengthwise whenever I clip them. Now I'm affraid to clip them at all because of this splitting, not to mention how thick they are.
Granted, I've lived with them like this for a few years.
Wouldn't a toenail fungus take a much shorter time to spread?

Dear Nobarefeet
It sometimes takes years for toe nail fungus to actually spread to all of your toes, sometimes the fungus may stay concentrated to a select toe or two. It's hard to predict. THE only way to truly diagnosis what is causing the toe nail to become thickened, brittle, discolored and form subungal debris is through labratory testing such as a PAS stain, KOH or fungal culture. I would recommend that you see a Podiatrist for an evaulation and discuss treatment options.

Good-luck and thank-you for contacting foot.com,
SBarlizo, DPM, C Ped
foot.com expert