Fungal toe nail/s. Treatment?

[Tansie]

I have six toenails that are affected (years in humid Oz). Both big toes have a section along one side, both 4th and 5th toes are completely affected.

I am using a Dr Scholl preparation which cost £18 odd in Boots where you file the flat of the nail down once a week for 6 weeks and apply what looks like clear nail varnish to the affected area every day for a year. You have to change your socks etc very regularly and not reuse any of the supplied nail-files to avoid fungal spores. The idea is that the affected bits will start to grow out and in a year, will be all grown out.

Well, after 6 months, I'm not sure it's working!

Has anyone had any success with self-treatment?

Has anyone gone to a podiatrist/chiropodist with it; how often do you have to go and do you mind telling me what they do and what it cost?

TIA

[flamingtoaster]

Two fantastic home remedies are:

Vicks Vapour rub or Distilled White Vinegar. DH cured his toes with Vicks Vapour rub - I'm curing my fingernails with Vinegar - didn't fancy Vicks Vapour rub on my hands as I wasn't convinced it would all come off for cooking. They both work really well but you have to be very conscientious about putting them on - obviously.

[Coolforcatz]

Vicks vapour rub (as mentioned) is good but smelly, also Vagisil cream and recently I heard Hibiscrub work too.

[bonzo77]

i used curanail with success. took about 9 months but it was just one toe. My friend is a chiropodist and this is what she recommended. You can get it on prescription which will work out cheaper even if you pay for prescriptions. The alternative she suggested was laser treatment, for which you will pay £££ with a chiropodist, but it is very effective. whatever treatment you use, you need to wait for the nail to grow out. She also said not to wear nail polish routinely, and it you really must, it should be a light colour and remove it asap.

[Tansie]

Thanks so much for everyone's input.

Can I ask how you use say vapour rub? Do you file the nail back (as in 'on the flat', not shaping the end as you would normally with a nail!)? How often? How often and when do you apply either the Vicks or Hibiscrub?

I don't wear nail polish at all because with 6 fungal nails, my feet resemble Frodo's, anyway .

[Furball]

I'm on my 3rd pot of curnail. It does seem to help and a bit of nice nail grows then before you know it it's spread back down again. [grr]

[HyvaPaiva]

Apparently 'Nailner' - a spray with no filing needed - is really good.

[CiderwithBuda]

A friends father sorted his with tea tree oil I think. It was only one though. Soaked in water wih tea tree oil every day and then used some neat on I think.

[tumbletumble]

I've been to a chiropodist with this problem. He told me to go to the GP and get a prescription as the over the counter stuff does not have a high success rate. Unfortunately the prescribed stuff is quite hard core and can result in kidney problems as a side effect for some people. It seems there's no easy answer to this!

[Tansie]

I just saw a youtube video using garlic and olive oil! The lady concerned didn't appear to be flogging anything- I might give that a go.

[flamingtoaster]

Re Vicks Rub - file the nail every few days and apply the rub morning and night to the nail (under it as best you can and all round it). If you find that you are getting an infection between the toes on the skin it works well there as well and didn't sting much to DH's surprise. Put a sock on at night to save the bedding!

[WhoNickedMyName]

I've heard plenty of people say Vicks is supposed to work but never heard from anyone who it has actually worked on, except for now, on this thread.

We used Vicks on DS (age 10) fungal nail religiously, twice a day for a year. It didn't work. In fact a second nail also became infected.

We've been using Curanail for about 5 months. No difference.

I'm now looking into laser treatment for him but its not covered by our private healthcare. Its about 1000 pounds and there are just 5 practitioners in the country that use the only particular laser treatment that has been proven to work.

[MissBeehiving]

Ds had a fungal toe nail infection for years. We tried everything - over the counter and on prescription. The only thing that shifted it was three months of oral anti fungals - terbafine

[WhoNickedMyName]

Miss yeah my GP said the only thing he's seen work are the oral anti-fungal meds. They won't prescribe them to kids until they're 16 though, and rightly so.

DS is really bothered by his nails since one of the kids at school spotted them at swimming and pointed them out to all his friends. I think we're going to have to bite the bullet and pay out for the laser treatment.

[Coolforcatz]

I've just spoken to my dad who suffered with athletes foot and a fungal nail infection and despite numerous GP visits it didn't go away. He soaked his feet in a hot Vicks solution and then used Vagisil cream. That's straight from the horses mouth and his feet are now clear!

He also said he sprayed Dettol (not sure what sort) into his shoes and on his socks before washing them.

Disclaimer This information is from a man who had to get a cotton bud removed from his ear in hospital and swears by whisky for many medicinal purposes. I'm not to be held responsible.

[MissBeehiving]

Who - mine prescribed them for DS, who is 9 but they affect liver function so had his bloods done prior to taking them and then again after 6 weeks.

My DS got really self conscious about them too

[gingeroots]

I heard this
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03fb91z radio 4 programme last year .

Very discouraging - nothing seems to work and the drugs a GP can prescribe are a " sledge hammer to crack a nut " .

Sorry to be so negative .

[bonzo77]

i have to say I am really sceptical about the vagisil. Do you mean canestan? Canestan is an antifungal that is used on the vulva, so theoretically of some use in fungal nail. Vagisil is essentially an emolliant with some local anaesthetic (lidocaine) and some very very mild antiseptic (zinc oxide, thymol and alcohol). You'd be as well to use sudocreme!

They are really resistant to treatment. I think its to do with the infection being so hard to access, both externally with ointments (because its under the nail), and internally with oral treatments (as they often do not reach the extremities that well due to blood flow). From a logical point of view, treating any co-existing athletes foot, and all foot wear makes good sense at the same time.

Feel very sorry for the self conscious children though: could you put veruca socks on instead to hide them while swimming, or is that exchanging one problem for another?

[roadwalker]

gingeroots- I heard the same programme, it all sounded very bleak
I am using paint on stuff prescribed by GP but it takes ages and I am not convinced I will get rid of it
My work mate got the oral prescription from her GP and it did work but the risk of kidney failure? not sure it is worth it

[LeapingOverTheWall]

I had the tablets and they've done nothing annoyingly. Vicks makes the skin round about the nail red and sore, Curanail didn't work either . I'm going to have to go back to the GP aren't I? They're not going to pay for laser treatment though.

[DraggingHours]

I've had the oral medication, and I have to admit it did feel like a sledgehammer to crack a nut. However, it worked brilliantly and after years of feeling terribly self conscious about my feet, I can finally wear sandals and I'm really pleased I did it. My only side effect was slight indigestion. I had to take six weeks' worth of medication over six months (one week per month take meds, then nothing for the other three weeks). I didn't have any blood tests or anything (maybe I should have?!) - it was a bit of a non-event.

[UriGeller]

Neat Tea Tree Oil.

That's all you need. Apply with a cotton bud twice a day.

You'll have gorgeous nails in a couple of weeks, I GUARANTEE it.

[DraggingHours]

Leaping, just saw that the meds didn't work for you. Which ones did you have? I had itraconazole, and first had to send off a piece of nail to check I had the "right" kind of fungus for it to work (which I did).

[DraggingHours]

UriGeller, tea tree oil sounds like it might be worth a try (though I'm not sure there's any evidence), but there's no way anything can work in a couple of weeks for full-on fungal infections. It takes months for toenails to grow out, and all treatments require new, uninfected toenail to grow through.

[CPtart]

I also have six fungal toenails. Definitely fungal, confirmed with clippings. Have tried two six months courses of terbinafine which worked for a while but when stopped they recurred.
I hate them.

[LeapingOverTheWall]

I had terbinafine (after clippings done) - are there other ones?