What Questions Should I Ask My Healthcare Provider
If you have toenail fungus, you may find it helpful to ask your healthcare provider:
- What type of infection do I have?
- Do you recommend I treat it? Why or why not?
- How long will I need treatment?
- What steps can I take to stop it from coming back?
- Should I be aware of any potentially serious complications or treatment side effects?
A note from Cleveland Clinic
Toenail fungus is an incredibly common infection that can be difficult to treat. Tinea unguium usually isnt painful, but it may make you feel self-conscious about how your foot looks. If it bothers you, talk to your healthcare provider about your treatment options. A trained specialist can provide guidance on whats most likely to address your concerns while protecting your overall health.
Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 08/11/2022.
References
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What Is Toenail Fungus Exactly
Toenail fungus happens when tiny microscopic organisms called fungi get underneath your toenails, causing an infection, according the American Academy of Dermatology .
Not-so-fun fact: The same fungus that causes jock itch and athletes foot can also cause toenail fungus, which can infect your nails and the skin underneath, says Gary Goldenberg, MD, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
Depending on the type of fungus youre dealing with, an infection can cause a slew of unpleasant symptoms, including:
- Nail discoloration
- Debris buildup underneath the nail
- Lifting of the nail from the skin
- Nail thickening or crumbling
- Nail thinning or splitting
Toenail fungus is highly contagious and, if you have a fungal infection on your foot, the fungus can spread to one or more of your nails.
Keep After Your Feet Even If It Looks Like The Fungus Is Gone
The same fungus that causes athletes foot is the one that will infect the nails. So after youve treated the fungus and it looks like its out, the patient still has a lot of responsibility, Dr. Lipner says. You need to make sure it doesnt come back by applying an antifungal producta basic athletes foot productto your feet daily. If you get the fungus invading your feet, youll probably get it back in your nails, too. Apply an antifungal cream, spray, or powder to the shoes or the feet daily, she says. To some people, its a habit like brushing your teeth. For others, getting them to do it is like pulling teeth.
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Toenail Fungus Home Care
Sometimes itâs possible to treat your toenail fungus at home. You can try:
- Over the counter antifungal creams or ointments. File or cut off any white markings on your nails. Soak your nails in water and dry off before you put on the medicated cream.
- Special nail care. If you keep your nails trimmed, it can reduce the pressure and pain you feel. You can also thin your nail bed by filing it down. This can help antifungal creams get to the problem easier.
Does Topical Treatment For Toenail Fungus Work
Topical treatment works, although it takes time.
One issue is that topical treatment alone is only a good idea for minor infections. In severe ones, where the nail is very thick, yellow and deformed, it may be impossible to treat fully. Avulsion surgery would be a better option.
It may also take a long time to work in these circumstances. The deeper the infection, the longer it takes. This can be frustrating, and causes many people to give up.
While you may fully intend to see treatment through, its possible to make mistakes or miss days. The more days you miss and errors that you make, the less effective the treatment. Thats especially frustrating if you did perfectly well for six months.
It also wont work if you dont follow preventative steps. You could do everything right when applying the cream. But if you wear infected socks that spread the infection to the new nail, theres no point. We recommend wearing antifungal socks in the future.
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How Long Does It Take To Recover
You need to be consistent with the treatment in order to see results. It usually takes a few months for the nail to heal completely. Healing time depends on how severe the infection is and how quickly your body responds to the treatment.
The fungal infection is cured when youve grown an entirely new nail thats free from infection.
You can continue the tea tree oil treatment after the nail has healed to ensure that the nail fungus doesnt return.
Its important that you use a high-quality tea tree oil for best results. Here are some things to look for when buying tea tree oil:
- The oil needs to be 100 percent pure.
- Buy an organic oil, if possible.
- Look for a tea tree oil that has a 10 to 40 percent concentration of terpinen. This is one of the main antiseptic and antifungal components of tea tree oil.
You can buy tea tree oil online or at a local health store. Always buy from a brand that you trust. The supplier should be able to answer any questions you have about their product.
Research your brands and manufacturers. Essential oils can have issues with purity, contamination, and strength. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration doesnt regulate essential oils, so its important to purchase from a supplier you trust.
Ask About Antifungal Pills
If topical treatment isnt doing the trick, your doctor may prescribe one of the following antifungal pills:
How to use it: Antifungal pills work faster than medicine applied to the nails, the AAD says, but you should still expect a few months of consistent use, per your doctors instructions.
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How Do You Treat Toenail Fungus
Toenail fungus is notoriously difficult to treat and one of the most stubborn fungal infections.
It can take a few months of treatments before you are finally rid of toenail fungus. Even if you are successful and remove it, toenail fungus has a nasty habit of coming back.
You can usually treat toenail fungus at home if youre able to catch it early enough. The problem is that by the time you start experiencing visible symptoms, its usually well past the early stages.
If you have any of the symptoms listed above, you should probably enlist the help of a dermatologist, primary care physician, or podiatrist. They will examine your infected toenail and determine the best course of action for eliminating your toenail fungus.
These are a few of the most effective treatments for eliminating toenail fungus:
Nail Fungus Sufferers: What Works And What Doesnt
Are you tired of suffering from stubborn and ugly nail infections? Do you long for letting your once beautiful toes see the sunlight again? Do you wonder what its going to take to get rid of the fungus?
Over the years weve had the opportunity to collect testimonials from people who left comments on ToenailFungusTreatments.com, who have used different types of nail fungus remedies. After analyzing them, weve created some useful suggestions for those who want to eliminate nail fungus.
Of course, nothing is ever 100% guaranteed, but if we can learn from others with similar problems, we have a better chance of crossing off one more problem we have from the list that seems to accumulate many problems as we age.
How Doctors Heal Patients
In fact, I was thinking about doctors and how they learn. I know that if you ask any doctor who he or she learned the most from, they will say their patients. In the practice of medicine, a doctor who pays the most attention to the results that their patients are receiving, and makes appropriate adjustments is often the most successful both with people and against disease.
Recognizing this feedback loop was very valuable, we started collecting reports on remedies from our readers and have been able to create some basic guidelines for anyone with nail fungus problems who wants to use these treatments to get clear nails again.
Guidelines From Our Readers about Nail Fungus Remedies
Ugly Toenail Transformed to Beautiful and Perfect
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/6toenail Infection Is A Contagious Disease
Toenail fungus also known as onychomycosis is a common infection of the toenail. This contagious disease can be very painful and can even spread to other parts of the body, if not treated immediately.
The most common symptom of the toenail infection is a white, brown or yellow discoloration of one or more toenails. It may spread and even cause the nails to thicken and crack.
Traditionally, anti-fungal treatments such as terbinafine or fluconazole are used to cure toenail fungus, but these treatments have some serious side effects like upset stomach, dizziness, and jaundice. Most people opt for home remedies to cure this disease.
You can also try these popular home remedies, if your toenail is troubling you.
How Is Toenail Fungus Treated
Toenail fungus is notoriously tricky to treat. You may need to treat tinea unguium for several months to get rid of the fungus. Still, toenail fungus often comes back.
A skin specialist or foot doctor can explain your treatment options. If you have a mild case that doesnt bother you, your healthcare provider may recommend no treatment.
Tinea unguium treatment options include:
Oral antifungal medication
You can take a prescribed oral antifungal medication to treat the fungus. Options include terbinafine , itraconazole or fluconazole . Youll need to take the medication every day for several months . Your healthcare provider may use blood tests to check for potential medication side effects. These medications can affect your liver and interact with other medications, so oral antifungals arent for everyone.
Topical medication
You can regularly apply a topical medication right onto your nail. The medication treats the fungus over time. Topical medications are most effective when paired with oral medications.
Laser treatments
Your healthcare provider will direct a high-tech laser beam and special lights at your toenail to treat the fungus. Lasers are U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for temporary increase of clear nail in nail fungus, but theyre not a cure. Cure rates for laser treatment are lower than oral and topical mediations. Your healthcare provider wont typically use lasers as first-line treatments for nail fungus.
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Change Your Socks And Shoes
Sweaty, warm socks are a breeding ground for fungus. Wearing the same socks over multiple days encourages any small spores you may have picked up to grow.
Never wear socks for more than one day. Dont wear socks at night. Instead, allow your feet to breathe. Spray your shoes with an antifungal spray regularly.
Follow these tips, and even if you do pick up some spores, you may prevent them from growing.
Home Remedies To Avoid
Most home remedies for toenail fungus are unlikely to cause unwanted side effects.
Still, when considering home remedies to treat a toenail infection, its important to consider a few things:
- Lack of evidence: Many home remedies dont have as much scientific evidence to support their effectiveness as other more evidence-based treatment options, like prescription antifungal medications.
- Lower risk of side effects: On the plus side, even if they dont work, most home remedies are less likely to cause adverse side effects when compared with antifungal medications.
- Longer treatment time: In the case that home remedies do help to treat your infection, its likely to take a long time .
If youre immunocompromised or living with other chronic conditions, its a good idea to speak to your medical provider before trying out any at-home toenail fungus remedies.
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Where Does It Come From
You can get toenail fungus from several causes. Walking barefoot, for example, exposes your feet to germs and bacteria. This is also the case with using public or shared showers, likeat the local gym or public pool. Sometimes you can get fungus after a pedicure, if equipment and tools were not properly cleaned, allowing the fungus to linger and spread.
Knowing the cause of toe nail fungus is always helpful because it can help you avoid it in the future. You can also decrease your risk of the infection returning by:
- Keeping your feet clean and dry
- Wearing sandals or pool shoes in public pools, locker rooms, showers, etc.
- Wearing socks and shoes that breathe and change them daily
- Washing your hands and feet regularly
- Throwing out old shoes
- Choosing nail salons that offer high-quality, hygienic services
- Trimming toenails straight across and keep them short
These are great preventive tips that can ensure better foot health for the future. Want to learn more? Read our article on what causes toenail fungus. But what should you do if youre battling toenail fungus already? Heres what you need to know.
An Established Fungal Infection Is Hard To Eradicate But You Can Stop Its Spread And Improve Your Toenail’s Appearance
Toenail fungus isn’t a pressing health problem. Yet a fungal infection can ruin the appearance of your nails and cause pain as it lifts the nail away from the nail bed. And fungal infections are notoriously difficult to get rid of. Most often, you should consider fungal toenail a condition to be managed rather than cured.
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Ozonized Sunflower Oil And Other Ozonated Oils
Ozonized sunflower oil combines sunflower oil and ozone and is made by treating the sunflower oil with ozone which leads to an ozone reservoir that slowly releases into the skin or nail area. Ozone is one of the best bacteriacidal, antifungal, and antiviral agents known and represents a promising and needed alternative to current antimicrobials, because it is cheap to make and can avoid resistance. A laboratory study showed ozonized sunflower oil inhibited the growth of 5 different strains of fungi, although this was less than with conventional agents such as fluoconazole or itraconazole. Another study that compared ozonized sunflower oil twice a day for three months to ketoconazole 2% cream, found 90.5% were cured and 9.5% reported an improvement in their nail fungus with Oleozon compared to only 13.5% cured with ketoconazole and 27.5% improved. 59% remained the same.
Verdict: Ozonized oils including ozonized sunflower oil are promising antifungal agents that appear significantly more effective than conventional agents when used to treat toenail fungus.
Use Povidone Iodine To Treat Your Nail Fungus Reply Back To This Thread When Your Fungus Goes Away So That People Know Its Real
Please upvote this. Use Povidone Iodine Prep solution to safely and effectively get rid of toe fungus. This stuff works like magic ad is cheap! My gf tells me that Its what surgeons and nurses use religiously in the hospital before doing any incision or surgery. It kills everything that can live on your skin and apparently even nail fungus. Best part is it gets sticky once dry and stays on your nail for the entire day, continuously killing the fungus. No need to constantly reapply it. It works like magic, Id say it took less then a month and the fungus is gone baby gone. You can get a bottle off amazon or whatever for around 10$. I have no affiliation with iodine and suspect this cure isnt perpetuated because this stuff is dirt cheap and cant be easily monitized.
Edit 1: Its non toxic and can be beneficial to your body, I believe your thyroid or something loves iodine. Im not a professional MD but I no it worked for me!
Finally while tending to some cuts on my hand with my iodine solution and resting. I got the idea to put a few drops of this iodine on top of my toe. I saw results the next time I took my shoes off. I kept doing it daily for a few weeks and the toe fungus is gone
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How Can You Prevent Toenail Fungus
Its virtually impossible to completely prevent toenail fungus. However, you can greatly reduce your risk by making a few lifestyle changes.
Some of the following can further your chances of preventing toenail fungus:
- Thoroughly dry off your feet when you get out of the shower and before you put on socks.
- Wear proper fitting shoes and socks that are made of a breathable material.
- Discard old shoes or disinfect them with antifungal powder.
- Change your socks throughout the day.
- Remove damp shoes and/or socks as soon as possible and dry your feet.
- Wear sandals or shower shoes in community showers, swimming pools, or locker rooms.
- Avoid making direct contact or sharing footwear with someone that you know has toenail fungus.
- Clean your nail trimmer before using it and avoid clipping your nail too short.
Best Medicated Nail Polish: Arishine Toenail Fungus Treatment
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Treats discoloration, brittleness, and cracked nails
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Easy, on-the-go treatment
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Only works on nail plates
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Treatment process can be slow
The Arishine Toenail Treatment has the design and convenience of a pencil. Perfect for storing in a bag or pocket while at work, the repair pencil allows you to use a paintable nail polish on your infected toenail three times a day with ease to treat a nail fungal issue.
The Arishine treatment uses two percent deacetylated chitin, three percent O-hydroxybenzoic acid, and Angelica dahurica as active ingredients to get rid of fungus and heal the damage. This solution can help treat discoloration, brittleness, split, rough, and cracked nails. Ultimately, this medicated nail polish can lead to stronger and healthier nails.
Arishine is made of natural ingredients and does not conduct animal testing. Treatment requires three applications a day and should be used for four to 12 weeks, although improvement may be visible in as few as two weeks. Arishine offers customers a satisfaction guarantee.
Active Ingredients: Deacetylated chitin , O-hydroxybenzoic acid , and Angelica dahurica | Dose: Applicator automatically delivers correct amount with two to three clicks. Apply around nail on cuticles and under nail bed. | Uses: Treats fungus infection on and around nails helps heal discolored, brittle nails
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