skin disorders
Onychomycosis
Diagnosis of Onychomycosis
A doctor's examination Examination of nail debris or clippings A doctor usually makes the diagnosis of onychomycosis based on the appearance of the nails. To confirm the diagnosis of onychomycosis, the doctor may need to examine a sample of the nail debris under a microscope and sometimes culture it to determine which fungus is causing the infection or clip off part of the nail and do a test called polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR test is used to produce many copies of a gene from the fungus, making the fungus much easier to identify. 