Not a sexy topic but fungal nail infections

Ballpeen hammer to remove the fungal nail.

Keep your socks on.

Jublia. Ask your doctor.

Topical medication from a doctor.

You can also soak your feet in warm water and vinegar but you have to do it every day for like a year.

Spray your shoes with Lysol when you take them off and alternate shoes every 24 hours if possible. Don’t wear socks made of synthetic fibers. Wool or cotton are best for absorbing sweat.

Laser treatment. If you get it through a Groupon it's about 150 for two treatments.

Painless and really works.

Do not take the pill that effs up your liver.

antifungal cream from a doctor. You can try gentian violet (you can get it at a pharmacy) and see if it works. It will dye everything purple.

OP, I've battled it for years. A few things:

1. Buy a pretty firm foot brush and brush your feet and nails all over with soap in the shower, every day, at least once per day.

2. Dry feet thoroughly before putting socks and/or shoes on.

3. The above two steps are more essential than you think in getting rid of fungus. Or at least minimizing it.

4. Put powder in your shoes to absorb moisture when you know you'll be wearing shoes for an extended period of time.

5. Old-school Listerine - the kind that smells funny and is that sort of beer-colored mouthwash. That stuff helps with some foot fungas. Dilute with water and soak as long as you can, then let dry before shoes. Do as often as you can.

6. There's a product called Formula 3 that is actually prescription-only but you can buy it SOMETIMES online. Look for it. It does work but you have to use it every day for months and months and months.

Sorry for the bad news. There's no easy fix for this shit.

6. If it's terrible already, you need to go to a podiatrist. There are ZERO over-the-counter remedies that do much at all. In fact, some of the strains of fungus seem to be so bad that some over-the-counter products can't make a dent.

What R3 said - no question about it

I have had my nail fungus cured, but it takes a great deal of patience and diligence.

I had nail fungus on three of my toes. I went to the podiatrist and he used lasers on the nails, several times over a period of weeks. Then I used a prescription ciclopirox nail polish every day for at least nine or ten months as the nails grew out. It may have taken more than a year, but eventually it worked.

If you want it to work, you have to be DILIGENT about using the nail polish every day, and thoroughly cleaning the old nail polish off every week, and getting into all the edges and into the cuticle. There will a time when the middle of the nail is grown out with no fungus and there is still some fungus on the edges. Don't let this fool you; you have to keep going until all of the fungus is gone on the entire nail. Otherwise it will grow back.

Stop wearing socks, and only wear flip-flops.

Soak your feet in Listerine. Easy peasy. Cures everything.

[quote] Not a sexy topic

Speak for yourself.

applying peroxide daily and you will see the coloring fade.

Dr. Tichenor's can kick Listerine's ass.

Diluted tea-tree oil.

I’ve had it on all my toes for over 20 years — my mom & her mom had it; it happens because you’re genetically not able to combat the fungus like everyone else. The drug Lamisil is really the only thing that works and that you will most likely follow through on — are you really going to paint your nails with medicated lacquer every night for 9 months? Originally you took Lamisil daily for 3 months, had blood work done monthly to keep an eye on your liver function, and then it took another 6 months or so for the nails to completely grow in clear.

I did this twice in the past - after about 7 years the fungus world come back. This last time the protocol has changed (and now the pill is generic so it costs very little) - you do a 10 day burst of pills every month for 3 months - so less potential stress on the liver, but you still do the blood work after the first round to see if you have an adverse reaction. Took the pills this summer and now my smaller nails have grown in clear - the big toes still have a strip at the top that hasn’t grown out yet. Go see a podiatrist.

What about peeing on your feet? Do you think that would work?

Apple cider vinegar foot bath 20 min per day...youll be cleared up in a few weeks

I had toenail fungus under my big toe for years. It was super gross and embarrassing. I tried everything except a prescription for Jublia. What worked? Diet. I tried a really low carb diet last year, stuck with it, and within 3 months, the fungus just stopped, the toenail grew out normally, and it’s been fine for over a year now, even after I went back to eating some carbs.

Sporanox.

Sporanox. It’s the real deal. Cures dandruff too.

A bolt cutter and enough strength to squeeze hard ten times.

^🤣👍🏼

R10

Thanks for mentioning about the nail polish. That's an important part of treatment after the laser. And you do have to keep it up.

Tea tree oil is great for any fungal infection on the outer skin layers. It can also be used for Athlete's Foot.

However, it must be applied on a daily basis for several weeks, depending on the strength of the fungus. And, as someone already mentioned, it must be diluted.

[quote] What about peeing on your feet? Do you think that would work?

Apparently not…OP has done that multiple times a day for decades

I cut mine very low and slathered my feet with coconut oil, which is also natural anti-fungal. It worked very well.

I put some green beans, honey, Ex-Lax and a scoop of cat food in a blender, soaked my feet in it for 48 hours straight, and it worked wonders.

The "home remedies" do not work. Jublia or Terbinafine are the only real options. People will come up with all kind of stupid shit "Omg, listerine, omg lemon pledge, omg try windex" etc.

Windex good for everythings!

I've been asking the same question about feminine hygiene products for years.

R16 and R26... Are right. Tea Tree oil does wonders and it helps with toe fungus problems.

I would try a lysol feminine rinse! It keeps me fresh and acceptable for train travel during the summer!

Lamisil - you can get it over the counter - cream kills fungus. Same as prescription.

You can buy petit lasers now to clip on to your toe. The unit will fit in your handbag and is perfect for a Mary on the go!

I like to wear open toed sandals with my caftan, so that Betty Boo (my pet name for my fungal nail) is the apple of everyone's eye.

OMG, How many times do we have to go over this?

If this is a real fungal infection that will be determined by your doctor when a test is done. They'll take a scraping and I guess look at it under a microscope or something. Don't really know how that works.

If it is a real fungal infection, then that is SYSTEMIC. That means within your body. Nothing topical - whether it's some cockamamie folk cure like peeing on your feet or some topical "medicine" - will cure it. The medicine (I took Lamisil some 22 years ago) has to enter your blood stream and stay in it for 9 months - which is how long the biggest toenail normally takes to grow out. As the nails grow out with the infection, the medicine in your bloodstream creates a barrier between the infected nail and the new healthy nail growing out. That's why you have to be careful not to cut into the quick as that can break the barrier.

My insurance at the time covered the Lamisil pills which I took every day for 90 days (the pills stay in your system for 6 months which means it's in the system for 9 months total). The medicine without the insurance would have been $250 a month back then. I paid a co-pay of $15 a month.

It worked and I had no side effects though I know someone who got itchy or something from it but she was really high strung about everything. She got a fingernail infection from getting a manicure. If you only have an infection in your fingernails, you take the pills for less time.

It sounds like some of this stuff mentioned is nothing but cosmetic - laser and the like.

Prescription Lamisil

As others have noted, pulsed oral antifungal meds work. Anything else is just wasting your time and money.

R40, my doctor told me not to let them pulse the oral medication - Lamisil. That I needed to take it every day for the 90 days. She told me that pulsing was how the insurance companies save money but it is less effective and less likely to work.

Maybe the Lamisil today is different. But I remember she specifically warned me not to do that.

When you take it for just a few days at a time, you probably won't even notice any adverse effects. If you take it daily for 3 months, you probably will. It's the usual 80/20 rule... you can get most of the benefit with little effort, but getting even a little more benefit requires a lot more effort/sacrifice/grief.

I went through years of treatment by a dermatologist. It would go away and come back the next summer. (I’m a runner so my feet sweat a lot.)

Finally, one foot got better on its own. The other never has, and my dermatologist said treatments just don’t work for some people.

R43, what are these mysterious "treatments" you speak of?

[quote] If you take it daily for 3 months, you probably will.

I never had any side effects. Well, I take that back. After a short while on the med (Lamisil) I noticed that my feet were like baby's feet - the cracked heels completely gone. A welcome side effect.

Thanks everyone for your serious and funny comments!!! Appreciate them all

LASER IS NOT COSMETIC.

It kills the fungus. And if you apply the nail varnish they give you, it goes away. And, unlike taking the pills, it does not fuck up your liver.

I know. I've had it done.

WTF are some so dogmatic about this?

Seriously, you Lamisil worshippers, just because pills worked for you does not mean that other treatments are not equally as effective.

Lamisil must stimulate the fanatic region of the brain causing one to make ill-informed statements about laser treatments which are used by podiatrists in the U.S. everywhere.

It's not that laser doesn't work, necessarily; but that you also need to apply the medicated nail polish as a follow up daily for several months for it to be effective. That is frankly a huge pain in the ass, and one that many if not most people would have trouble following up on diligently. Lamisil is easy, the side effects on the liver is rare, and you are keeping tabs on it in any event. You are welcome to your laser regimen, I'll stick with the pills.

I had no problem applying the nail polish right after my shower.

Of course, not everyone takes a shower every day. Or even every other day.

I shower every day, brush my teeth and apply deodorant as well. Take my daily thyroid pill -- no problem.

Do I floss everyday, even though I know I'm supposed to -- hell no. Would I apply the polish every day -- nope. I know myself, and make decisions accordingly. If you're better at doing these types of things than good for you.

Excuses.

Ditto for Jublia being the only thing that worked after years of trying everything else. I'll add that my insurance wasn't going to pay at first and it was $550 for a small bottle. I had to take a prescription for some kind of pill instead, but I told my insurance/doctor that it caused nausea and then I got Jublia for free. It only 2 one bottle a couple weeks to knock out 2 toes for good and it never came back. Jublia Jublia Jublia.

Jesus people how lazy are you that you can’t apply the medicated nail polish once out of the shower??? Perhaps your ‘laziness’ has bought you to the world of toe and foot fungus. Please people personal grooming is important to stay well.