You know the Vicks in your toenails thing.....?

[Gales]

Was recomended on here for thick yellow nails. Mine have been awful for years and the proper stuff for dealing with it us v expensive.

Anyway, as I have Vicks, nothing to lose and 3 weeks later my nails are like new!

How/why on earth does that work? And why is no-one marketing it for nails!!

[MissBeehivingUnderTheMistletoe]

My Dr recommended it for DSs fungal toenail infection.

[Gales]

Thank you Pyro and MrsB - makes me feel better, that it's not a completely mad thing to do and that there's a reason why it works.

[Sonotkylie]

I've always been a bit sceptical but will start tonight!
I went to South America with a nurse once who used Vicks for EVERYTHING. Pyro has now explained why! (It worked too!)

[PyroclasticFlo]

It is great stuff - I use a similar product for children called Snufflebabe which also contains Thyme oil which is strongly anti-viral (as well as anti fungal and antiseptic).

It's brilliant for coughs and colds etc. My two DSs have had hideous coughs over the holidays and usually one or both develops either croup or a chest infection after any kind of cold / cough.

This time I smothered their chests and backs in Snufflebabe every night before bed and also did the other MN-recommended trick of putting it on the soles of the feet (then putting socks on them) before bed and it has really helped. They still have coughs but much they're much better and no croup or chest infection.

I must start using it on my manky old toenails....

[carrie74]

Hmmm, would it help my inevitable ingrown toenail? [grim icon]. I've also got gel varnish on my toes, I wonder if that makes a difference?

[Mrsrobertduvall]

How interesting.
I never knew that.
I have just booked the chiropodist for next week...my new guilty pleasure. Never again will I cut my own toenails.

[higgle]

DH uses teat tree oil, that works better than Curanail.

[Fluffycloudland77]

It's the turpinols in the essential oils in it that does the trick, they are very toxic and destroy the fungus.

[Gales]

Fluffy, that makes me wonder about the sense of rubbing it on my chest!

As it seems to be well known that it's effective, I wonder why no-one is marketing the same little tub with a label saying it's for feet. Or maybe they are?

How does Curanail etc get away with being so expensive, when even the manufacturers say it can take a year?

[YouDontWinFriendsWithSalad]

I've been doing this for five months and have noticed a small difference, but I'm probably only managing once a day.

[ygritte]

I tried this as and it kept me up every night. It felt like I had restless foot syndrome..seriously irritating in a strange way.

[herbaceous]

Ok. Been doing this for a day or so, and the edges of my nails are going black. That's normal, right?

[Crunchymunchyhoneycakes]

I managed to sort out a manky toenail that curanail hadn't fixed using Vicks. Brilliant stuff.

[ajandjjmum]

A week or so in to using it morning and night, and I think my two affected nails are a bit better.

Should I still be filing them down though?

Thanks

[MrsLettuce]

I've been having a crack at this too, didn't think it'd do anything really - I've tried all sorts over the years, the tablets the file-the-shit-out-of-'em-and-varnish stuff, several sorts of cream. None provided more than a slight improvement. I've had the problem since I was a child, caught it from my mum

Anyway, yeah, I filed down the surface of the nails and reduce the thickness on the bad ones first and am keeping them as short as possible (as per all other treatments I've tried). It seems to soften the nails , they're harder to cut / file now 'cause they're a bit rubbery - might the vicks actually be penetrating through the nail???

TBH they do look better but I suppose that could just be the extensive filing and moisturizing. Shall persevere.

[BabsAndTheRu]

Just read this thread, right I'm going to give it a go as well, 20 yr problem also. Gets worse every time I'm pregnant.

[ajandjjmum]

OK - I shall file. I have to say that one the surface - after a week and a half - the two nails affected look a little better. Good luck!!

[HintofBream]

Mine are so foul that, like thenightsky I can't bear not to wear varnish. Any remote chance of it working?

[MrsLettuce]

Mine too Bream but TBH once they're cut short (a hairs breadth from painful), filed right down from the surface and everything is excavated exfoliated and moisturised they look more or less normal anyway. Honestly.

But no, I can't see it working on varnish, you could always wait until the autumn if you really daren't go varnish free. Mind you, you could still treat the skin around the nails and between the toes. Would probably be worth it.

[HopeForTheBest]

Yes yes yes, it works!
I read it on here a couple of months ago, and decided to try it while it was still socks-on-winter-weather. I did it every morning.

Surface of nail improved within v. short time - a week or so, and has been getting better and better since.
Something has also been going on underneath the nail, as it not longer looks quite as yucky and disgusting.

I am continuing in the hope that it will at some point completely clear up. It's a miracle!

[HintofBream]

Yes, MrsLettuce, I have gloomily concluded that I need to wait until they can be concealed in autumnal socks, but will have a go meanwhile at the surrouding areas. A bit TMIish, but when you say 'excavated' do you mean that dry powdery stuff that lurks under the nail?

[MrsLettuce]

Yeah, that (but no tunneling under the nail) and the infected, thickened skin around the nail/

[HintofBream]

Thanks MrsL, I think you've nailed it with that unvarniished info. Vicktory will be mine - eventually.

[lupo]

god yes Vicks really works. I was so fed up that I started to save for laser treatment and thought I would have one last try with Vicks - didnt work last time but was only doing it once a day. This time use it twice daily with tea tree and literally smother the nails. I have also been takin graefruit oil capsules and within three weeks it has improved so much that I can wear sandals again - literally no trace but still a small amouunt under nail that you cant see when barefoot unless you peer down the nail. Soo pleased but am too scared to paint nails with varnish incase it comes back. Will wait til next summer and make sure its gone.

[Justinepants]

Just to get back to this, as I've finally bought a pot of Vicks and I really have to sort my manky nail, how do you stop the Vicks rubbing off and over everything else? Socks to bed and not worry too much in the day time?