Cure for fungal big toenail infection

[Toenailsupportgroup]

AIBU to ask if anyone has found anything to permanently get rid of this. I've had this problem for years and I've tried painting various treatments on and it seems to be just in the top half of my toenail but never grows out completely. Please recommend any products that truly work!

Tebinafine didn’t work for me, neither did tea tree oil. What worked was soaking the nail in water until soft , filing or cutting down short and applying hydrogen peroxide twice a day. This killed the fungus and the new nail grew out .

I reckon I could have got Vicks/HP/something Dettol-y to work if the tea tree hadn't - it's just finding an antiseptic/antifungal that's complementary
I was denied the tablets thanks to a chronic illness - contraindicated because of the ole liver.

Similar to a prev poster, had it on big toe for ages, accidentally damaged nail which fell off after a while. Covered it with savlon until it grew back and fungal infection completely gone

This takes ages, but has worked brilliantly for me. Start by getting some urea ointment, apply before going to bed and cover with a dressing to keep it in contact with the nail. Did this every night for about 2 weeks. This softens the nail so you can scrape off most of the infected part. Then get some flowers of sulphur (which is just powdered sulphur) from Amazon, mix some with vase line to make a paste and cover the nail with it each night, I always put a dressing over it to make sure it stays in contact with the nail and often leave the dressing on all day as well. Do this until you see new healthy nail growing up, it takes months but it has worked for me. Also, a pinch of the flowers of sulphur inside shoes, boots etc stops anyy more fungus growing.

I was prescribed terbinafin but it's very damaging to your liver. So be careful. I started on what was supposed to be a9 month course but doctor stopped me after 3 because the blood tests showed reduced liver function.

Dont bother with laser treatment of the infection is bad. Its very painful, from experience and does not work, as well as being very expensive. Get to the doctor and get anti fungal medication. Gets in the blood stream and works fairly quickly. You will need a blood test first to ensure your liver can take it as they are very strong

As a foot health specialist i would strongly advise against treating your whole body for a fungal infection via oral Terbinafine, it can be ravaging on the liver and has many other side effects in some. Why would you risk damaging a major organ to treat a fungal nail? I am pretty sure any podiatrists suggestions of not using Terbinafine would not be about money making, because believe me treating fungal nails is a pain in the arse! If I didn’t have to see one ever again I would not miss it. I also find laser treatment to have particularly disappointing results. Treating with a topical treatment after having the nail prepared by a professional will bring good results without the sledgehammer to crack a nut method. I treat plenty of GP’s who will not take Terbinafine because they know it is nasty stuff. Also Vicks vaporub and tea tree are garbage too. Many years ago people recommended it, now it is a complete waste of time, unless you want your feet to smell of menthol that is.

@sammylady37

i asked my friend who’s a podiatrist as I suffer too. He said stay away from the tablets, they can damage your liver

Every medication has potential side-effects, though. If we stayed away from any medication that could do damage to x/y/z part of the body, nobody would ever take any tablet again! It’s about balancing the benefits and risks to you. Regular Liver function tests will pick up any damage caused by the tablets.

And, while not suggesting your friend had unscrupulous motives with regard to your treatment, it’s in his interests for people in general not to treat (and clear) their infections with medication, as then they won’t need to see him. It’s kinda like how I’m always slightly sceptical of dispensing opticians who are very vociferously against laser eye surgery...

Well he lives at the opposite end of the country to me, so it’s not like he’s making any money out of me not taking the tablets.

Though I have let him mooch off my Disney+ so some ‘what would you use’ advice is fair I think!

Marmite, he tells you the right answer. No way I would take it in a million years either.

I've had Terbinafine sat in my cupboard for a year as j was too scared to take it. My cousin is a dermatologist and she recommended (via a fungal colleague) to use canespro. I've been using it for a good few weeks and one of my nails (I have fungal spread across all 5 of the right foot toenails) has fallen off with it but others it hasn't. The big toenail also fell off but the regrowth still looks very dark. No idea what to do next apart from another tube of canespro. I've tried everything for 10 yrs bar the tablets due to liver function damage....

I've been recommended PACT treatment- anyone tried that?

Wow wasn't expecting so many replies! I'm a bit spoilt for choice with what to try first. I think the problem is I'm a runner so always have my feet in trainers which can't help. I also usually have painted toenails as I don't like looking at the discoloured nails so this makes them harder to treat. Will update if any of the above works for me :)

Went to GP who prescribed tablets (Terbinafine.) Had to take for six months (and absolutely no alcohol during that time. Toenails as good as new.

I'm using Gentian Violet and it's working, though extremely slowly. Painted on twice daily. Feet washed twice daily. Talc in the morning helps stop sweaty feet during the day. Lavender and mint foot cream at night. Affected nails filed/clipped as short as possible weekly, including the surface to totally file the purple away and as much infection as I can without it hurting. The next bit of exposed infection is then killed by the purple. In summer I paint all my toes with it, it washes off healthy nails and doesn't harm them. Only downside is my bathroom floor is stained, splattered in hundreds of tiny purple dots, can't wipe it up instantly because I can't see where it's landed. I don't care though because the fungal nail infection was painful on the worst toe. I'd tried everything else except the tablets and nothing else worked at all.

If you’ve tried everything else.
Oral terbenafine.
Takes approximately 6 months.
Needs liver function monitoring..but works.

Vicks vapour rub. Worked for me

Lamisil cream. Had to keep using it for about a year til the nail grew out but it worked and never returned.

Sorry this was totally gross.
No. What was gross, me googling it. I have a black toenail (also a runner) and decided to now google to see if this thread could be useful for me. Now that was gross. I should have known, I remember years ago (late 90's I think) there was an advert for some sort of fungal nail infection that had a close up of the toe

I don’t think there’s any scientific merit to this but I had a fungal infection in my big toenail for years, it kept coming back despite every method I used. Then I went on a beach holiday and wore sandals everyday and swam in the sea. When I got home my fungus had gone, and never returned.

Maybe it was just a weird coincidence or a mixture of the open shoes and sea salt but it did the trick. Not saying you should have a holiday prescribed! But maybe salt foot baths might ease it?

@WowIlikereallyhateyou - what topical treatment round you recommend? What exactly do you mean by the nail “prepared by a professional”? How do you find the right professional? Is it a private podiatrist you need?

I have tried one of those over the counter treatments which you paint on the nail, tried that for at least 6 months (maybe a year?) and made no difference at all. Now trying tea tree oil, have been doing that maybe 3 months and no effect so far...

Reading with interest, I've got it on 4 of my toes now and I just can't get rid of it. The over the counter stuff either does nothing or irritates my skin and I have to stop using it. Tried Vicks, coconut oil, does nothing. Recently been trying soaking in Milton solution, it kind of makes it look better because it takes away a lot of the yellowish colour but doesn't actually seem to get rid of it. Same with tea tree ointment, makes it look a bit better but still there, sigh...! Don't fancy messing with my liver for the sake of my toenails so tablets are out. You'd think given how advanced science is that someone would have come up with a good way of treating this!

It all depends on the severity of the infection, if it's down to the matrix (the base of the nail bed) only tablets will work... That's from a podiatrist whom I went to see about private laser treatment. Trying to get GP to send off a blood and mycology sample has been like banging my head against a brick wall mind you

I have had it for years and tried loads of things, but Thera fungal nail destroyer (from Amazon) actually did work. It smells like tea tree so it could just be an expensive bottle of tea tree oil. But I think the success is more from the daily filing and persistence, as others have said. If you make sure you keep it up daily then you do see results quite quickly that encourages you to keep going!

@kennelmaid

Seriously, Vick's Vapour Rub. Cleared up a long lasting, treatment resistant FNI within a week.

How often do you put it on? Once a day?

My GP refused to prescribe tablets due to the risk of liver damage.
Tried Vicks for months but although it initially looked better it didn't continue the improvement.
Tried the Scholl and Curanail paint on stuff (religiously) - expensive and didn't work.
What kind of laser can be safe for home use?