Toenail Fungus

[Grog]

I thankfully don't have personal experience, but I have friends who have had this and my father-in-law is a dermatologist (although that doesn't make me any more knowledgeable).

I'm afraid your pharmacist is right, and it does take a long time to get rid of it completely. Whatever treatment is prescribed to you, you have to take completely, even if you think you don't need it anymore, because if you don't the risk of recurrence is much higher.

It can be months (or more.....) before you get rid of it.

I can't think of how Vicks or oil would have any effect on this, sorry...

[Tokie]

I took a phamacology class in my master's program with the Nurse Practitioner students. The NP teaching the class told us of a story of a young (50's) man living in a nursing home with severe liver disease - turns out, it was from the (much advertised to the public) presciption oral medication used to treat nailbed fungus. (read the precautions, it is one of the risks) And after you finish the treatment (hopefully without liver damage) the fungal infection can still come back. In my book, that's not a risk worth taking! My motto is, even if there is only a slight risk of a complication, if you're the one it happens to, it's 100% for you. Tokie

[alpinerabbit]

I think oral tretament is going too far.

I've had excellent success (had it once, never came back) with a topical antifungal called Loceryl (active principle Amorolfin) here in Switzerland. It's in the form of a nail polish, and comes as a pack with dedicated antiseptic wipes and emery boards.

You file off as much as you can of the affected nail (do this in a place that you can clean, such as the bathtub, then flush the debris down), toss the emery board, then wipe (including fingers), then apply the polish (every 2-3 days) and rinse and repeat (the filing, you do less often, maybe every 2-3 weeks) until the lesion has grown out.

Tea tree oil has anti-bacterial properties, possibly antifungal I guess, but likely not strong enough to get rid of those nasty buggers.

[michelem]

My dermatologist advised against the oral (Lamasil?). She said if I opted to try it I'd have to be routinely tested for liver function and that it takes up to a year to know if it works or not (in her experience, it's not very effective). Also, it is rarely covered by insurance and is very expensive. I've just learned to live with it, meaning I never wear open-toe shoes!

[ClockworkOrange]

A couple of years ago, my partner had fungus on his big toes.

My friend recommended Gehwol med. Protective Nail and Skin Oil

It really did work, what I remember it took a couple of weeks but it never returned.

http://www.thinknatural.com/products...n-Oil-15ml.htm

http://e-collagen.eu/product_info.ph...1259d0b5197ae0

I bought mine on eBay and it was not too expensive.

Good luck

Clock

[alpinerabbit]

ps. is your affected area really the nail bed?
I was lucky mine was under the front edge - accessible to DIY filing - you might have to go to a medical pedicure to do this.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Try wearing more open-toed shoes during the summer. Eliminate as much 'hot sweaty enclosed toe' situations as possible.