Toe Nail Fungus; Do OTC remedies work?

[HomeHomeInTheRange]

I have self diagnosed fungus in both my big toes, and spent £18 on a bottle of Nailiner 2in1.

Will it work, or after 4 weeks of 2x a day application will I still have manky toes?

Any experience or advice?

@JerkintheMerkin roughly how long did you use Vick’s for?

Wow! Daktarin cream is a lot cheaper than the brush-on treatments!

I have had my big toenail removed after years of problems.

Running a lot didn’t help it either.

I had all the nail removed and the nail bed but it did grow back, took about a year.

It cleared up my other toe nails when I had the big one removed too.

It’s taken 8 years and I finally have toe nails I am not ashamed of.

Terbinafine didn’t work for me at all.

Buy Elastoplast Wound Spray and spray it on morning and evening. DH tried all sorts of remedies and this is the only one that worked.

I'm still battling mine but vicks has improved it so much and it's almost away. Previously I'd tried lots of the over the counter remedies but this weems to be working. My mum managed to get rid of hers by using oregano oil twice a day.

Go and see a podiatrist. Mine drilled tiny holes in my nail then I had to spray antifungal stuff into the holes daily for 5 months. Called the lacuna method.

Neat tea tree oil. Cut the nail as short as you can without it hurting. If you can cut the yellow bits out, so much the better. Shower, then neat tea tree on the nail. Takes months to go but never comes back!

I bought some amazing stuff off Amazon. It took a few weeks. Amazing stuff.

It might not necessarily be fungus- if the nail bed has been damaged it can cause the nail to detach from the nail bed and it’ll become discoloured and grow wonky and thicker.

If that’s the case, no OTC remedy will help at all- the damage is permanent.

Might be worth going to a podiatrist- DH went to one last year for £35 and got his nails trimmed riiiiiiight down and buffed. They looked a million times better.

@HomeHomeInTheRange I used the Vicks method throughout my pregnancy. Was diagnosed when I found out I was pregnant so GP would not prescribe anything for me. I cut away the nail that had lifted up from the nail bed and started rubbing the Vicks on the exposed nail bed. Took about a year for it to go/nail to grow back. Came back perfect.

My little toenail has been revolving for most of my life. A couple of years ago I started rubbing Terbinafine cream on it and in it and under it daily. Astonishingly it has grown out fresh and non-fungal and is now almost perfect, just slightly squished-looking. The cream isn't supposed to work on toenails but it did on mine.

Here are my Horrible Hooves. Do you think my diagnosis is correct?

Well, IANAD, but mine looked like that. It looks as though you have only half a nail to grow out so won't take as long.

You could trial two different methods and blog your progress.

@Sisteragatha

Not a recognised cure but worked on 3x fingernails in our house. Zap it with a phillips lumea. Worked brilliantly and quickly!

I have a Lumea and will try this! Sisteragatha can you share how often or how many times you did this please?

@WiseUpJanetWeiss

Well, IANAD, but mine looked like that. It looks as though you have only half a nail to grow out so won't take as long.

You could trial two different methods and blog your progress.

KalaniM I did it once every two weeks as I know you aren’t supposed to use it more than that (although I do on me because I am so hairy) with noticeable diff after the second time. You kind of have to cup the area to make the laser turn on or it doesn’t flash.

I can’t afford a Lumea.

@Sisteragatha

KalaniM I did it once every two weeks as I know you aren’t supposed to use it more than that (although I do on me because I am so hairy) with noticeable diff after the second time. You kind of have to cup the area to make the laser turn on or it doesn’t flash.

Ok! Thanks! I’m about to start doing my legs again for summer so I’ll include my big toes ! Brilliant! Thanks for sharing.

Is this Vicks vapour rub were all talking about. Tempted to try it

I've had 2 inflected toe nails for years.
Tried everything. Except tablets. I'm not taking tablets which will effect my whole body just for 2 nails.
Ive now given up.
I just keep them filed down and put a coloured polish on.

Reading with interest as my big toenail on one foot has been bad for about 3 years, I used to just cut it short and slap polish on it but now it looks so horrendous I don’t think polish will work, it’s gone deformed and the nail has grown to a angle where the tip actual points upwards 90degrees towards the top of my shoe. Must make a foot appointment to see if they can make it look any better.

@Libertybear80 any chance you could look though your amazon past orders and let us know what you used?

Will try the Vicks method, people that used Vicks-did you file down each time before applying?

I've also cured my fungal nails with Boots nail solution. It's a tiny bottle and lasts maybe 4-6 weeks but you do have to be really persistent with the application. Got rid of my fungus completely, but you couldn't really tell until the nail started growing out, which took a while. I'm now about 6 months into growing the nails back out and they are coming through healthily. I believe not all nail applications will work on all fungi, though, so you might have to try more than one thing before you find something that works.

I used Thera healthcare Fungal Nail Destroyer

@Sisteragatha how did you get the lumea to work without sealing the edges? Mine won't work unless hard against skin on all edges

Vicks vapour rub applied morning and evening for 12 weeks sorted DH’s toenails. It was suggested by his very brilliant GP.