Foot Care And Bad Toenails. Help!

I love being barefoot as much as possible, but it's primarily just at home because of a few affected toenails. Slightly discolored and disfigured due to a probable toenail fungus. I've been battling it for as long as I can remember. It's really only the two big toenails, one middle toe, and one pinkie. The rest of my nails are great.

I've tried so many things to get rid of it forever, but nothing has really worked. Some have helped it look a little better, such as putting on Vick's Vaporub every day. That just helps them look a little better than letting them dry out and worsen. I'm currently trying tea tree oil. I put it on the affected nails 2-4 times a day. It seems like it's going through a phase where they're getting worse before getting better. I hope that's just the fungus being killed off.

Anyway, I'm looking for tips on treating this stuff, besides the obvious medications or laser toenail surgery, which will be my last resorts when nothing else has worked. Any ideas, tips, or suggestions on toenail and foot care products in general is welcome and appreciated. My foot care survival kit continues to grow!

 

Thanks for the support! I've been applying every day for only around a month now, so patience and persistence may be key.

Medications definitely got to make their money! Haha.

 

Somehow I got fungus on three of my fingernails. They looked very bad--humped up and disfigured,etc. it was embarrassing and I hid them. I tried some of those treatments on the shelves ---and there are a lot of them. Nothing worked, so I finally went to a dermatologist, even though I had been warned about taking the pills that are known to cause liver damage --TO THOSE WHO ARE SUSCEPTABLE. The doc had me take a lab test to see if my liver was up to snuff. Turns out it was and I took the pills for about two months with another liver test to check on my liver again as I was taking them. All good. The healing went very well and my nails cleared up and look great.

When the doc mentioned the pills could affect my liver--I told him I didn't care--I just couldn't live with those ugly nails and i wanted them anyway. That's how determined I was to rid myself of that crap. So as a last resort (if the tea tree oil doesn't work) you might want to consider going the hard core way as I did.

Alcohol consumption is probably/may be a consideration in whether ones liver is fit enough to take the pills.

 

Yeah, I've definitely considered trying an oral medication. I once asked my doc several years ago about Lamisil and he advised against it, because of the liver damage issues like you mentioned. He instead prescribed me Penlac, which is a topical clear solution that is applied every day to the affected nails. It helped with some of the mis-shaping that was really bad at the time, but I didn't see it as a long term fix.

I'll continue applying tea tree oil and hope for results after many months of being persistent. If nothing, medication will be a last resort before looking into laser toenail treatment as the last stand. Glad you solved your problem with relatively little side effects.

Just a few questions:

What specific medication were you using?
About how much were you paying for it by the time you solved your problem?
Any idea how much laser treatment costs on average?

 

There is an outfit that does laser nail treatment here in Eugene. I called them and they wanted 900 bucks to treat ALL nails, hands and feet. Too spendy, I figured, so I went the way I mentioned. I threw the container out when I finished and my nails cleared up , so I don't remember. I will call the dermo tomorrow and find out what it was, if you'd like. My insurance paid the full price except for $2.50 for the first batch. I think the insurance is afraid of having to pay for liver damage, so the next batches were about 40 bucks for a months worth. Actually, now that I think back on the situation, I may have taken it for 3 months. Anyway, it worked for me.

 

(And by the way--wonder why my script changes back and forth from the dark to the light. It's not on purpose.)

 

Seems like your text is switching back and forth between bold and regular. Ha. No big deal, but strange.

$900 for all nails sounds much more reasonable than I thought it would, but still ridiculous if they force you to do all nails. Surely somebody could just request to have their affected nails treated only. I only have 4 toenails that would need treatment. Everything else is fine, especially my fingernails.

 

I've been reading a little more on just how to use tea tree oil for toenails. Seems like applying 3-4 times a day is a must. Almost just about anytime you think about it. One or two times a week just isn't going to cut it.

But one other thing that I haven't been doing yet, is to file the nails down some with a 100-grit nail file. I guess that takes off dead layers or allows the oil to soak in even further.

The battle continues...

 

You could try drinking colloidal silver for an anti-fungal from the inside out as well.

 

Wow, it's been awhile since I've heard of colloidal silver. I'll have to look into that. Thanks for that info.

I forgot to mention that I will sometimes ingest a clove of garlic to help internally also, but that just gets to be too much. Not to mention I probably smell like garlic all of the time afterwards. I read somewhere that doing this helps.

 

Some great info that I found:

 

Progress Report: This should be at least a month of tea tree oil treatment so far. I don't want to get too excited yet, but I swear I'm starting to see good results. This is after incorporating filing of the affected nails in order to smooth the mis-shapen parts and to allow the tea tree oil to sink in further. I'm steadfastly still applying anywhere from 2-4 times a day. Everything has become ritualistic now. Even enjoyable in the hopes that I'll one day cure this.

 

Mine were much,much worse than those little guys. Much worse.

 

I know there's varying degrees of this. I've seen cases so bad that I would probably be tempted to just have all the damn nails removed! I feel like I'm finally seeing some good results now. I'm being the most persistent with it than I ever have been. They're almost to a point where if the "nicotine-stain" color on the affected nails was gone, they'd probably be a lot less noticeable. My daily program will continue unless results stop, then I'll try the next thing. I can't wait to see what they're like after a year of being this persistent.

 

Tea tree oil works when used regularly but it helps even more if you file the nail down so it can soak in better. You can even use a drimel tool. Soaking in Apple Cider Vinegar is also good for them.

 

You're absolutely right! I just started filing the affected nails down last week with a fine grit nail file and have already noticed significant results. Wish I had utilized this years ago.

How often should I file though? Last thing I want to do is file too much and lose the nails entirely.

 

Stop before they begin to feel tender.

 

I imagine the nail will feel pretty thin at that point. Maybe even paper-thin. I've always made sure to get as much tea tree oil as I can up under each affected nail, too. Surely that's helping.