Toenail fungus - does it ever go away?

[NeedyLimeMember]

Sorry - I know it's a bit grim....
So I had a toenail fungus for a couple of years and after treatment off for ages (because £20 for a tiny bottle of treatment?!) and a couple of half-assed attempts, I really committed to treating it back in June. Bought a highly rated product and applied 2-3 times a day. Because the nail was so crumbly and the nail bed damaged I was able to cut the nail right down to almost nothing, and put the stuff on the nail bed. At times I thought I was seeing an improvement but now I'm not so sure. Today I've realised one of my big toes also has fungus and I'm just feeling like I'm fighting a losing battle.
Has anyone successfully managed to get rid of bad toenail fungus? Or is it just something loads of us have and put up with? Advice appreciated!

Private prescription of oral terbinafine.

I applied the 50/50 solution of tea tree and olive oil mainly on the surface of the nail. My nail had completely thickened up but once it became a little easier to trim I trued to put some solution down from the top iyswim. I didn’t file as it turned my stomach. Honestly it took six months and had never returned. But you do need to air the toe as much as possible ( obviously harder in winter hence why I did it in summer). Im pretty sure taking sugar out of my diet as much as I could helped too

Ive had fungal toe nails for 7 years. I’ve tried everything (OTC remedies, Vicks, tea tree oil) and been very conscientious in applying with no luck. I’ve just had a course of terbinafine which also didn’t work! Now on itraconazole. When my cremated remains are scraped out of the furnace this fungus will still be alive!!

I used Gehwol treatment fluid twice a day for a month. It's amazing stuff and although it's expensive the little bottle lasts for ages.

How did he use it?

This is an interesting listen… apparently susceptibility to toenail fungus can be familial. Also a good explanation of why toenail fungus can come back if you’ve got rid of it once and what you can do to prevent it happening again

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002kq34?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Yep, the oral tablets.
Had spent years trying every otc and vicks/tea tree oil / other random suggestion and it was just spreading.

Cleared in a couple of months after seeing the GP, and hasn't come back.

I tried all the nail fungus potions, filing etc for almost 2 years. Nothing worked and it was just getting worse.

I read that Vaporub balm helped and as I had the cheap Asda version, I thought it was worth a go. Within a few days I could see it had stopped worsening and the infection just went and never came back.

It took some months for the damaged nail to grow out but it looks perfect now.

I am using a combination of Poderm serum, a little bottle of H-nail Fungus formula and Margaret Dabbs miracle cream with relatively pleasing results so far. Also tried everything except medication so far.

Hi OP I had toenail fungus at the beginning of the year when our chiropodist noticed it.
She recommended Curanail and it took 10 months to work and my nail is growing back to the correct size

You need terbinafine. It was the only thing that worked with me.

I've just noticed a patch of what I think is toenail fungus on one of my toes.
Did you all have to throw away your shoes and socks to avoid reinfection?

I've also had mine for about 10 years big toenail , tried OTC etc nothing worked. Got terbinafine but started feeling not right on it so I'm back to basically hiding away my feet all the time sadly. One lady beautician podiatrist told me to pay 300 to have the whole toenail removed and start again!

What is a 'beautician podiatrist' IYO ?

They are either a beautician or a podiatrist, not both !

Podiatrist said keeping it dry helped ie open toed sandals but I am looking for some sort of anti fungal talcum powder to try

I took terbinafine and the fungus went away after about 6 months

So she's a podiatrist and she does beauty treatments like Botox and the like? That does occur you know lol

Pure tea tree oil cleared it up.

Those Podiatrists that have additional qualifications can use botox for foot-related disorders eg excessive sweating.

If she's doing 'beauty treatments' then that isn't covered by her Podiatry Insurance.

There is more clarification here from both Podiatry Organisations -

file:///C:/Users/Limage/Downloads/RCPod%20Scope%20of%20Practice%20Statement%20regarding%20the%20use%20of%20Botulinum%20Toxin%20Type%20A%20by%20Podiatrists.pdf

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/institute-podiatrists-position-statement-using-toxins-podiatrists-4gnpe/

I’ve just listened to this and it’s really interesting! I’ve tried so many treatments and nothing has worked, based on listening to this I think it’s time for me to get my toenail tested to see if it is even fungal or if it’s trauma to the nail years ago and then see what the best treatment is.

I found taking calcium at the same time as treating the nail with whatever solution, tea tree oil usually, works better because the nail then grows out a lot quicker. I have one nail that just hadnt grown for a year.

I had this as well, you also can't drink alcohol while on it and it took about 6 months for the infection to grow out. Worked a treat though.

I've been applying poderm double expree for about 2 weeks, nothing has happened yet

I’m still battling it twenty years after losing both big toenails to tight ski boots. The first ten I was in ignorance though, as a twat of a doctor took a sample and declared it wasn’t fungus.
Tea tree oil turned them yellow and made them thicker, Curanail seemed to be working a few times but one day at a wedding in heels would send everything back to square one. I’ve just had a few months using a pen thing from Mullend, which softens the surface so you can file the gunge away but had to get DH to do the filing as it gave me a bad back bending forward twice a day. I’m waiting to see how they grow out but I can still see a bit of fungus on part of the remaining top layer.
I’m now trying Nonyx nail gel which is supposed to soften the keratin so you can scrape it away and there’s nothing for the
fungus to feed on 🤢.

I was advised to wash socks with an anti fungal detergent. I used Halo Sports Wash. It's expensive to use for all your washing so I kept a separate laundry bag for my socks and washed them together when I ran out. I do have a lot of socks though, they are my fun treats.

As it happened, it turned out to be massively easier to pair socks after a sock only wash than to fish them out one by one from a mixed wash. A silver lining to toenail fungus, who knew.