Laser therapies have been Food and Drug Administration approved for temporary nail plate clearance; however, there is minimal evidence of their long-term efficacy.

We sought to evaluate the clinical and mycological clearance of toenails treated with 1064-nm neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser versus no treatment.

This was a randomized, controlled, single-center trial comparing 2 treatments with 1064-nm neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser (fluence of 5 J/cm², rate of 6 Hz) spaced 2 weeks apart versus no treatment in 27 patients (N = 125 affected nails) with clinical and mycological diagnosis of onychomycosis. At 3 months, patients were assessed with mycological cultures and proximal nail plate measurements. Patients treated with laser were also assessed with proximal nail plate measurements at 12 months.

At 3 months, 33% of patients treated with laser achieved a negative mycological culture compared with 20% of the control group (P = .49), and had more proximal nail plate clearance compared with control subjects (0.44 vs 0.15 mm, P = .18), which was not statistically significant. At 12 months, there was no difference in nail plate clearance between laser versus control subjects (0.24 vs 0.15 mm, P = .59).

Our study was limited by the small sample size and number of treatments.

There was no significant mycological culture or clinical nail plate clearance with 1064-nm neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser compared with control.