Photodynamic therapy for onychomycosis: A systematic review

Other than a cosmetic concern, Onychomycosis is also a prevalent nail disease, which is extremely difficult to treat, and sometimes is refractory to conventional therapy. Moreover, many patients are not eligible to take oral antifungals owing to polypharmacy and comorbidities. Systemic side effects seen with oral antifungals have lead to patient nonadherence and adverse events. Therefore, newer therapies are being investigated for onychomycosis that would be free of systemic complications posed by oral therapy. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is one of those being currently studied, which involves the use of photosensitizer and a light source to excite the photosensitizer to generate reactive oxygen species. The present review will put some light on PDT as an upcoming treatment modality for onychomycosis. We performed a systematic review of the literature to find the articles relevant to the use of PDT for onychomycosis. From the primary search of 43 articles, 17 papers are included in this review.