Are oral essential fatty acids alone an effective treatment for symmetrical lupoid onychodystrophy/onychomadesis?

A five-year-old, neutered male lurcher is presented to you with a history of onychoschisis on one claw progressing to onychorrhexis and onychomadesis, which is now affecting multiple claws on all four feet and causing the dog great discomfort and lameness. A sample taken from the claw bed for cytological examination did not reveal any microorganisms, so the owner consented to amputation of the third phalanx on one claw in order to collect a...