Toenail fungus (onychomycosis) is a massive disease that spreads easily in unsanitary conditions, public places, and can also occur from excessive sweating of the feet as a result of wearing poor-quality shoes. If the rules of personal and general hygiene are not followed, onychomycosis quickly affects the toenails, and then it is necessary to undergo long and expensive treatments, which do not always guarantee complete relief of the disease.
How to recognize a fungus
Sometimes a person does not attach importance to the fact that the nail has changed color, structure, has become brittle, or vice versa - thick and hard. Also, the primary symptoms of onychomycosis are not obvious, although it is at this stage that treatment can still help resolve the problem quickly.
Treatment should begin immediately if the following symptoms are detected:
- the appearance on the nails of inconspicuous whitish streaks, dots or spots;
- loss of the natural shine of the nail and formation of cloudy, whitish or brownish areas;
- delamination of the nail plate;
- inflammation of the skin adjacent to diseased nails.
The characteristic signs of onychomycosis are itching, burning, dryness, and scaling. If at least two or three of these signs are found, it indicates that it is time to start treatment.
Effective traditional medicine
For the treatment of nail fungus, various means are used - from drugs that are freely sold in pharmacies and chemicals to medicinal plants. Often you have to try different methods or combine several of them to achieve a positive result. The main thing with such treatment is not to stop and take the course to the end, since untreated onychomycosis tends to manifest itself in the form of relapses and leads to the defeat of healthy new nails.
Medications and remedies available
Some improvised means that are available in a closet or first aid kit in each apartment are effective antifungal drugs. These remedies include ordinary iodine, with constant rubbing on the affected nail, you can quickly achieve a complete cure for the disease, but only in the early stages of onychomycosis.
The standard course of treatment with the use of iodine involves the daily use of a 5% solution, which must be rubbed into the nail twice a day (in the morning and before bedtime) for a month. After a few weeks of treatment, you may feel pain in the skin around the diseased nail, but this is not a chemical burn, but a sign of the beginning of the healing process.
An alternative to iodine is a strong solution of potassium permanganate. This remedy, diluted with water in a 1: 1 ratio, is also rubbed into the diseased nail just as often, and after the first week you can see changes for the better.
Hydrogen peroxide is considered a more benign agent - cotton pads soaked in this agent should be applied to sore nails so that such compresses can be easily repaired by putting on a sock. It is necessary to change the discs twice a day, provided that you are constantly wearing shoes (for example, at work). This will soften the affected nails, after which the diseased segments and areas will be easily removed.
Popular antifungal medications among people are sodas and propolis, which can be used in many ways.
- Soda. Baking soda is added to a container of hot water at the rate of one tablespoon per three liters of boiling water. After steaming the legs in such a liquid for thirty minutes, the nails affected by onychomycosis should be lubricated with essential oil of celandine, after drying the feet. It is applied until complete recovery.
- Propolis. 10 grams of propolis are added to one hundred grams of alcohol, the product must be filled as tightly as possible under the affected nails after steaming. The tool can also be applied to the surface of the diseased nail, after which a sock is put on the leg or a tight bandage is applied. You can change such a bandage only after a day. It is used until complete cure of onychomycosis.
- 20% alcohol solution of propolis. The affected areas of the nail are lubricated daily with the product. Applied for two weeks.
These funds usually give results in 7-10 days after the start of the course. If these methods don't work, you should try other recipes.
herbal treatment
Herbs are the safest natural ingredient that, in certain recipes, helps to cure onychomycosis quickly. Most often, a golden mustache is used as such a natural medicine. It is necessary to cut about 50 segments of the plant and insist 500 ml of vodka. A week later, the finished infusion is diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 3 and applied to the diseased nail two or three times a day every day until the fungus is completely eliminated.
Common lilac flowers are also antifungal if properly prepared. It is enough to pour 10 grams of freshly cut flowers of this plant with one hundred grams of pure alcohol and leave to infuse for two weeks, and the product is ready. It should be applied in the same way as the previous one.
An interesting method that does not imply external use, but internal. To prepare such a remedy, you need to take ten grams of the following plants:
- blackberry leaves;
- oak bark;
- field horsetail;
- marigold flowers;
- verbena.
A mixture of these herbs is poured with a glass of boiling water and boiled over a fire for fifteen minutes. The remedy is taken 4 times a day, one tablespoon.
Other home remedies
For treatment, you can use birch tar, which can now be purchased at any pharmacy. This tool is used in the following way:
- In the evening, the legs are well steamed and rubbed with washing soap for 15-20 minutes.
- Softened nails should be trimmed, paying special attention to removing diseased exfoliated areas.
- The nails are heavily smeared with birch tar, which must be left for an hour and a half or two.
- After this time, the feet can be cleaned of tar and washed well, the procedure is repeated once a week until the nails heal.
Kombucha is effective against onychomycosis. This tool is used for compresses: a tight bandage, gauze or a piece of cloth is soaked in kombucha, which are superimposed on a sore nail.
To prepare the kombucha you will need three liters of tea and a glass and a half of sugar. Tea must be poured into a three-liter jar and left in a warm place for several days: during this period, a film forms on the surface of the liquid, which looks like ordinary mold. At this time, sugar is added to the jar, which speeds up the kombucha growth process. It usually takes no more than a month and a half to mature.
Then the entire foot is rewound with polyethylene - this is an additional factor that deprives the fungus of access to oxygen, which speeds up the process of extermination of the parasite. Warm socks are placed on the polyethylene, and in this way you can go to bed and remove the compress in the morning. The procedure is repeated daily until complete recovery.
If the above methods didn't work, you can try using essential oils. In fact, these cheap drugs are almost exact analogs of expensive antifungal drugs, therefore, in terms of properties and effectiveness, essential drugs are close to any pharmacy antifungal.
The advantage of essential oils is that they act in a complex way, providing an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, purifying and regenerating effect, so recovery is quick and painless. Unlike many antifungal creams and gels, which completely destroy the affected nail plate, essential oils cleanse diseased areas.
You can use such products in different forms, for the preparation of the product, the entire container with essential oil is completely used:
- As a compress: the essential oil should be heated to a temperature of 30 degrees in a water bath, then add a couple of tablespoons of water to dilute the viscosity. Tampons or fabrics are impregnated in such oil, which are fixed on the diseased nail for no more than an hour. After removing the compress, you can see that the affected part of the nail has peeled off, but its main clean part remains (later it will be covered with a new protective layer).
- For baths: three liters of hot water are poured into a container and ten drops of essential oil are added. It is enough to hold the legs in a container for 20-30 minutes, after which they need to be dried and wrapped in a thick towel for a while.
- As an ointment: essential oil is applied in any quantity to previously steamed diseased nails. Subsequently, it is not necessary to remove the oil, it is necessary to apply such an amount that it is completely absorbed into the nail plate (this is revealed empirically).
You can use absolutely any essential oil to your liking:
- tea tree oil;
- Ylang-Ylang;
- Rosemary oil;
- anise oil;
- bitter orange oil;
- basil oil;
- bergamot oil;
- immortelle oil;
- vetiver oil and any other.
The only contraindication in this case may be an allergy to the components of a certain type of oil.
Such recipes are used until complete recovery.
The fungus is a dangerous and common disease that requires immediate treatment. In the absence of adequate measures, such a disease can turn into a chronic form, which is sometimes absolutely impossible to get rid of. Experts often recommend abandoning the use of folk remedies, but according to statistics, onychomycosis is most often cured with the help of traditional medicine, but in order to get a positive effect, you need to choose the right recipe for yourself.