Has anyone actually had any success with over counter treatment for fungal nail infection

[fakeblonde]

I have a horrid thick white crumbly toe nail.Dr said it was prob fungal but in order to be sure needed to do a nail scrape and sent it off for testing.If pos would need several months of not very nice medication.
I told him i would come back to him on this one and might try over the counter treatment first.
Has anyone ever successfully treatde a fungal nail infection.
Its horrid and obviously cant paint my nails or anything.

Have to go back to work now, but will log in later x

Manuka oil can be effective ... but tbh, I don't think anything will prove as effective as a GP's prescription.

My dh has suffered from this for years .. over the counter stuff has always worked for a little while, and then it comes back with a vengeance.

Fingers crossed, he got some stuff from the GP recently, and it seems to be working.

had afungal toenail when I was first pregnant hence couldn't use any of the normal otc or prescrition drugs - ended up dabbing it with neat tea-tree oil on a cotton bud twice a day
(I know it has big pg diclaimers but it was only going on my toenail)

I worked out I'd had the infection for 18m but the tea-tree cleared it in 6 weeks
smells v strong though - made DH run a mile...

several months of a course of not very nice anti-fungal tablets is better than a disgusting nail fungus, no?
one that you can pass onto others very easily, too, i may add

i hope you dont use the same swimming pool or changing rooms or shoe shops as me

That was a bit harsh, NP.

yes ok it was a bit harsh, but i wanted to shock her into starting the correct treatment and not the crappy over the counter ones

my mum has these fungus nails and she refuses to do anything about it

Then we agree!

my friend is using curanail with success.

(NB they are actually quite hard to catch and pass on, much harder than (eg) verrucas or athlete's foot or scabies.
They're just a bugger to get rid of once you've got them because the nail is effecitvely dead tissue so very hard to get a drug to penetrate it.)

mrsB
the drug doesnt penetrate the nail. it attacks the infection in the nail bed
the reason the course of drugs is so long is toenails take forever to grow

and usually the nail infection os the same fungus that causes the athletes foot, so its very easy to catch. most people who have the nail fungus also have athletes foot

it is cheaper to get a perscription.

i had this and used the perscribed nail lacquer treatment (did not require any tests). it was a smaller nail and 3 months later it is pretty much normal.

the paint-on types are meant to penetrate the nail, are they not? but that was what I was getting at - if you take tablets your bloodstream only gets them as far as the nail bed and then it's the (sloow) cell turnover that gets them into the nail.

And treating athlete's foot on your feet before it gets really icky usually stops it spreading to the nails.

(God, I knew there was a reason I gave up mycology...)

i went to doctors with a fungal infection she told me she could prescribe a paint on but they take 6 moths to work in which time my nail would have grown out.

but curstardo the fungus stays in the nail bed and as the nail grew it would grow out infected

mrsB i think these paint on ones are crap. its like treating dead tissue

aha depends where the infection is

some fungi just hang out in the nail eating the dead tissue and never burrow down to the nail bed - they're the ones the lacquers etc work on (and I guess what I had that responde to the tea tree).
Others live in the live nail bed (erk) and they do need the tablets.
They are hard to tell between just by looking though, and hard to grow from scrapings in the lab too, though that's the best bet for a correct diagnosis.

If they are so very easy to pass on, why are all the OPs toes/both feet affected?

That's interesting, Mrs B. I'm using curanail on my big toe (eek). You have to file the surface of the nail before putting the lacquer on, so I assume that's how it penetrates the nail itself.

all toes on both feet do get infected if you leave it long enough

also can pass to your fingernails

eek eek eek eek eek and yuckety yuck. I blame dh - he suffers from athletes foot so I'm convinced I got the nail infection from him.

Tea tree oil worked for me - took about 2 months I guess?

Feet: only tablets worked, and then (after more than a year of fungal infection on feet only - which very slowly spread to all toes) very effectively.

Hands: on different occasion, and paint on stuff seemed to work then fungus came back whenever I stopped using it. Was about to switch to tablets, then got pregnant and couldn't, and paint on stuff amazingly cleared it and stayed clear - wonder if being pg gives one super-powers

I have this... I have been given the nail lacquer stuff from dr but have been too nervous to use it as have been getting lots of strange allergies recently Have you all managed fine with the treatments with no reactions...? Am tempted by the tea tree oil stuff... Was hoping to wait til end of summer as I wear nail polish and like wearing open toed sandals. Also sort of feel fresh air must be better than being stuffed away in hot and sweaty shoes? I don't go swimming or anything... Dh always has athletes foot so guess I got it from him. But I never get athletes foot

Thanks everyone.
Its only one toe and i`ve had it about 18 months.Might try the tea tree oil as got plenty here.

Tea tree oil worked for me. I had already tried two bouts of prescription only oral medication which did bugger all.

BTW sorry for hijack - probably can tell the subject is close to my heart