Fungal toe nail infection

[fungalinthejungle]

This makes me feel neither stylish nor beautiful but I have a fungal toe nail infection.

I got told by a chiropodist right before lockdown - I have curanail but laser treatment and drugs were mentioned.

Has any one had an infection and successful gotten rid of it quickly? And if so, how?

Thank you, I feel awfully gross.

Me too Alsohuman. There’s no way I could stomach looking at my big yellow toenail for a YEAR while I waited for something to work.

That’s a relief, I’m glad I’m not the only one.

I had a pretty bad infection that spread to 3 toes whilst using topical treatments. Terbinafine got rid of it, but my nails fell off and regrew. I also had to have liver test before & during.

I've also had it for years on several toe nails, started in my teen years. People don't understand how awful it is, especially at that age when you're already so self-conscious. I gave up wearing sandals and in fact I still don't. I tried topical treatments and tea tree oil to no avail. But weirdly, one nail very recently started to grow back as a normal nail without me doing anything! I can't explain it at all.

This thread is a good reminder for me to get back on the tea tree oil - I've lived with it for so long that I'd just given up.

Terbinafine - 6 months course. I'd only done 3 months before lockdown so I couldn't have the blood tests to get the repeat prescription but it's been brilliant so far and has been very effective.

Literally nothing else works

I got rid of mine using apple cider vinegar. Twice a day wipe a cotton wool pad with apple cider vinegar over the toenail and along the side of the nail. Took months to grow out but this is the only treatment that worked. Good luck.

Mine was disgusting by autumn last year. I’d previously tried various commercial cures to no effect.

Saw Vicks recommended by a MNer. Have been religiously applying daily after shower all through winter and my nails are now a healthy pink........and I still have some left in the jar!

A friend’s were worse than mine - thick, yellow and breaking off - she reports similar success.

I've had badly infected big toe nail for at least 10 yrs. Tried tea tree oil, nailer, curanail , nothing worked then saw a leaflet for Emtrix in a chiropodists waiting room when I was delivering flowers. Ordered some from Amazon and it's been bloody amazing. Apply once a day before bed, there's no irritation to the surrounding skin like I had with all of the others. Within 2 weeks the thickening had visibly reduced, there was no crumbly yellow stuff under the nail and the whole nail just looked a damn site better. I've been using it religiously for 12 months now. As pp said you just have to persevere wwhile the nail grows out. Mine is almost there now (I have very long nail beds) and the new growth at the base of my nail is normal and healthy looking. Definitely recommend

Primotomb - thanks for the recommendation - I have just ordered some. Fingers crossed it works for my absolutely hideous toenails too!

I had this and tried all the over the counter stuff. Then I read on a MN thread to try lavender oil. It worked - you have to wait for the nail to grow out (and sometimes half the nail comes off before) but stops it spreading. I put a few drops on each infected nail (and others in case it had spread) after showering every day

For people that said they use Vicks. Do you mean the little pots of vaporub oily stuff? Just put a bit on your nail and rub it in? My nearly 14 year old daughter seems to have it on both her big toenails. Not sure how she got it but we are currently using the scholl treatment that we bought from Amazon. You file the nail for a week and then the next few weeks you paint this liquid stuff on like a nail varnish. I can tell like a lot of you said that it will take ages.

I’ve got it on one toenail, I just paint over it. Out of sight, out of mind.

I hope you dont use that nail varnish on your other toes or fingers then? If you do you’re risking spreading it, It’s incredibly infectious.
I was advised to throw all shoes out that I’d worn barefoot before terbinafine cleared mine, as the fungus can reinfect you.

@mummymayhem18 Yes that's what I used on a thumbnail. It wasn't even real Vicks it was Morrison's own vaporub. I applied a thick layer every night before bed and once the nail grew completely out it was normal. I couldn't believe it.

@hamsterchump thanks for that. Will give it a go if the scholl treatment doesn't work. ☺️

Vigorous filing of the top surface of the nail, then tea tree oil, worked for me. My husband has infected nails and I picked it up from him on my big toe. Mine has almost grown out now but it has been a slog! I break emery boards in two and chuck the boards away after one use.

@mummymayhem18

Yes, it’s the stuff in the jar. If DD has it on her big toenails now it will soon spread to the others. (The Scholl treatment you’re using is on my tried and failed list.)

Vicks seems to work because of what is in it (eucalyptus?), also it stops the fungus getting oxygen and at the same time moisturises the nail.

I’d been so worried nothing was going to touch it, got so bad half my yellowed big toenail just broke off.

Couldn’t believe something so cheap and easy has done the job.

I've had this for ages mildly on my big toenails and it's never spread further. I only ever notice it when I change my nail polish so it's never bothered me enough to seek a treatment.

Maybe I'll wait until autumn and give the vicks a blast.

Well. You could knock me down with a feather. I’ve just taken off my nail varnish and my fungal infection that I had pretty much given up on ever getting rid of seems to have virtually gone.

The varnish has been on since February - with lockdown I have got into slatternly ways and have been cutting my nails without bothering to repaint them, so only the top half of the nails had any polish left.

Before I painted them in February, I’d been half heartedly following some advice I read on here ages ago, to soak infected nails in a mixture of Listerine and white vinegar for five minutes daily. Except I wasn’t doing it daily; it was more like only when I could be arsed. It did seem to be improving slightly, but then I went on holiday so I painted them and gave up on it, and just assumed the infection would be cheerfully spreading again underneath the nail varnish, like it has with every other remedy I’ve tried.

But NO. It appears to have been steadily growing out! Hallelujah. I’ve soaked them again and slapped on some Vicks for good measure, and I reckon that the next time I trim the nails, the last of it will be gone.

So - add Listerine and white vinegar to the arsenal of home remedies to try!

If DD has it on her big toenails now it will soon spread to the others

Not necessarily. I’ve had it on one nail for years, the others are absolutely fine.

Terbinafine - another warning to be careful with this treatment. I took it for four months before blood tests showed a dramatic drop in white blood cells. It took almost two years for the levels to return to normal.

It did cure my fungal nail though