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!

Mine spread to 3 nails across 2 feet whilst I was using topical treatments, whoops! GP prescribed terbinafine (and liver function tests) and it had all gone 4 months later.

Anti biotics from doc and other stuff only available from GP.

Don’t worry about liver side effects. Rare.
All meds have side effects.
That’s why you’re bloods are monitored!
If there’s a problem you can stop it & all good.?

You’re = your

Following! Sorry cant give any suggestions but I've tried vicks and it didn't work at all for me.

Terbinafine cleared mine up really quickly. Nothing else worked.

My H had terrible side effects with terbinafine. He lost his sense of taste totally and felt generally unwell. On further investigation he discovered that it is capable of permanently damaging a person's ability to taste. He stopped taking them and it took nearly 6 weeks for his taste to return. He has also tried vicks, but that didn't work either.

I don’t understand why people aren’t willing to take licensed treatments that work.
Doctors prescribe medication that is effective and safe. All medications have side effects but GP will monitor these if they are significant.

People are quite happy to drink alcohol in excess of guidelines and not worry about the side effects. At a population level alcohol is more risky than most drugs prescribed or otherwise. Yet, it’s acceptable and it’s not cool to question the harms.
I suppose it depends how worried you are about unsightly fungal nails (& spreading to others).

www.nhs.uk/conditions/fungal-nail-infection/

Canesten athletes foot cream, cut the nail back, file the top, smear with the cream and wrap in tissue, leave it on for about an hour. I did that every other night for about 2 weeks and it cleared it. The infected nail fell off and it's all growing back normally.

Same as bobbinthread my son had 2 fungal nails, 1 took about a year to get rid of, the other is close to clearing up, 4 years on! I cut it and put tea tree oil on it. Its definitely having an effect, just a slow one!

Te a pop’s surprise at people not wanting to take medicines that you need to get regularly tested for liver damage while using, eh, would the best approach be to a) give up in wearing nail varnish in the affected toes (it won’t kill you even if you hate how they look),
B) paint on the prescription anti-fungal nail varnish for up to a year as advised by gp
C) if it doesn’t work THEN take the gp’s pills that may or may not damage your liver.

Why rush in to liver damage when you don’t have to? Nobody likes the look of their damaged nails but why risk a damaged liver. That would seem to me more sensible than risking liver damage, and repeated blood tests in an overwhelmed nhs.

Stupid autocorrect. Can’t even remember what I attempted to start my post above with!!

For the first time ever I'm going to share how I got rid of it (disclaimer:I am not advising people to do this, it just worked for me😂)

I got one of the softer pumice stones, sat in the bath, and filed the nail right back. The whole nail. Had to be careful once the nail was gone not to keep filing! Applied tea tree oil and kep it clean each day and night. Healthy nail has grown back in. As I say, it worked for me but as it seems to be the case, different strokes for different folks 😂

see a podiatrist.
if they think it's needed they might suggest to see the gp for a prescription of an anti fungus tablet.

No one has mentioned fluconazole - this worked wonders for me, zero side effects. Is it not used in the UK?

@RamblingFar

Terbinafine tablets.

Tried all sorts for years, tablets sorted nails out in 6 months. I had to get a private prescription from an online chemist, so wasn't cheap. You also need regular blood tests and can't have certain food with them (no caffeine for example). However cheaper overall than all the other stuff I'd tried for years.

Yup, drugs are the only way. I suffered for many years than I care to admit, was so embarrassed! Tried everything. Moved house and got a new doctor who couldn't believe nobody had just given me a prescription before (I'd been to other doctors, chiropodists etc). I didn't need to pay though, this was through my GP.

Despite having the infected nail for such a long time, I think a course of less than 2 months sorted it! Couldn't believe it, feel more confident now. Do it, don't suffer any longer.

@MorrisZapp

Would this terbafine stuff treat endless thrush too?

@morriszapp, I noticed a link between my thrush and the antifungal tablets! I suffered terribly from thrush for many years and didn't get it while on the tablets. Mentioned to my doc and she said she wasn't surprised I had noticed an improvement. Just FYI, the only thing that permanently cleared it up for me is to take Canesflor every few months, prevention better than cure! PM me if want, sorry to high jack this thread!

Oh and just to weigh in on the whole liver damage thing... I worried myself about it (thanks Dr Google!) so I stopped drinking when I was taking the tablets. But later I was told that wasn't necessary, unless I drank copious amounts! I'm sure the doc will make an assessment based on your personal health, that's what the tests are for, as a precaution to check your body can still handle it. I was absolutely fine!

After years of this wretched nail and a small fortune wasted on expensive products, I tried Vicks VapoRub. Two months later and the fungal nail has almost grown out and most of the nail is now fresh and pink. I haven’t been able to wear sandals for years because of this, and now I can!! I can’t wait to re-introduce my toes to sunlight lol It might not work for everyone, but it’s worked wonders for me! Wish I’d known about it sooner, as some of the expensive products actually damaged the skin around the nail.

@HappyCoconut

After years of this wretched nail and a small fortune wasted on expensive products, I tried Vicks VapoRub. Two months later and the fungal nail has almost grown out and most of the nail is now fresh and pink. I haven’t been able to wear sandals for years because of this, and now I can!! I can’t wait to re-introduce my toes to sunlight lol It might not work for everyone, but it’s worked wonders for me! Wish I’d known about it sooner, as some of the expensive products actually damaged the skin around the nail.

What was your routine - did you use it every day or every other day? I need to start a consistent routine with the Vicks to see if it will work, I had started and felt that the nail turned almost black quite quickly and could almost lift right up off of the nail bed but I haven’t been consistent with it! And I was worried that I would damage it really badly if I tried to pull it off!

The terbinafine tablets worked for me the first time around, although now my big nail is reinfected. I did give up drinking for the course of tablets but wasn't offered blood or liver function tests!

None of the home remedies worked for me, although a podiatrist did suggest tea tree oil so I might give that another whack. It's best to keep your feet out of socks and shoes and in the sunlight, but I know I feel self-conscious about the look of the nail. I occasionally use Dr Remedy nail polish on my toenails, which contains tea tree oil so I can kid myself that they're helping the fungal issue while looking pretty!

Avoiding sugar also helps. That feeds the fungus, which is pretty grim.

I used neat tea tree oil. Twice a day on clean feet for 3 weeks. It's never come back. Same as @BobbinThreadbare123

Has to be the 100% pure tea tree oil.

I tried all sorts but what actually worked for me was Daktarin cream rubbed on morning and bedtime.