Toenail fungus (onychomycosis) is a massive disease that spreads easily in unhygienic conditions, in 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 they have to undergo long and expensive courses of treatment, which do not always guarantee complete relief from the disease.
How to recognize a fungus
Sometimes a person does not pay attention to the fact that the nail has changed color, structure, has become brittle or vice versa thick and strong. Moreover, the main symptoms of onychomycosis are not obvious, although it is at this stage that treatment can still help solve the problem quickly.
Treatment should be started immediately if the following symptoms are detected:
- the appearance on the nails of inconspicuous white lines, dots or spots;
- loss of natural shine of nails and formation of cloudy, white or brown areas;
- nail plate distortion;
- inflammation of the skin adjacent to diseased nails.
The characteristic signs of onychomycosis are itching, burning, drying and peeling. If at least two or three of these signs are found, this indicates that it is time to start treatment.
Effective traditional medicine
Various tools are used to treat nail fungus - from over-the-counter medicines 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 bring the course to an end, as untreated onychomycosis tends to appear in the form of relapses and lead to the loss of young, healthy nails.
Drugs and remedies available
Some improvised tools that are available in a closet or first aid kit in any apartment are effective antifungal medications. These medications include common iodine, with constant rubbing of which on the affected nail, you can quickly achieve a complete cure of 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 should be rubbed into the nail twice a day (in the morning and at 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 medicine, diluted with water in a 1: 1 ratio, is also rubbed into the diseased nail with the same frequency, and after the first week you may see changes for the better.
Hydrogen peroxide is considered a better agent: cotton soaked in this agent should be applied to sore nails so that such compresses are easily fixed by placing a sock. It is necessary to change discs twice a day, provided you constantly wear shoes (for example, at work). This will soften the affected nails, after which the diseased segments and areas are easily removed.
Antifungal drugs popular among people are soda and propolis, which can be used in many ways.
- Soda. Baking soda is added to a bowl of hot water at the rate of one tablespoon per three liters of boiling water. After steaming the feet in such a liquid for thirty minutes, the nails affected by onychomycosis should be lubricated with celandine essential oil, after wiping the dry feet. Applied until complete recovery.
- Propolis. 10 grams of propolis are added to one hundred grams of alcohol, the product should be filled as tightly as possible under the affected nails after steam. The tool can also be applied to the surface of the diseased nail, after which a sock is placed on the foot or a tight bandage is placed. You can change such a bandage only after one day. Used until complete cure of onychomycosis.
- Alcoholic solution 20% propolis. The affected areas of the nails are lubricated daily with the product. Applied for two weeks.
These funds usually give results 7-10 days after the start of the course. If these methods do not work, you should try other recipes.
Herbal treatment
Herbs are the safest natural ingredient that, in some recipes, help cure onychomycosis quickly. Most often, a golden mustache is used as such a natural remedy. It is necessary to cut about 50 segments of the plant and insist on 500 ml of vodka. One 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 anti-mold if prepared properly. Just pour 10 grams of fresh flowers of this plant with one hundred grams of pure alcohol and let it inject for two weeks - and the product is ready. It should be applied in the same way as the previous one.
An interesting method that involves not external but internal use. To prepare such a medicine, you need to take ten grams of the following herbs:
- berry leaves;
- Oak bark;
- field horse tail;
- calendula flowers;
- verbena.
A mixture of these herbs is poured into a glass of boiling water and boiled on the fire for fifteen minutes. The drug is taken 4 times a day, one tablespoon.
Other folk remedies
For treatment, you can use birch tar, which can now be purchased at any pharmacy. This tool is used as follows:
- In the evening, the feet are well evaporated and rubbed with laundry soap for 15-20 minutes.
- Softened nails should be cut short, paying special attention to the removal of diseased exfoliated areas.
- The nails are densely painted with birch tar, which should be left for an hour and a half to two hours.
- After this time, the feet can be wiped 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 impregnated in kombucha, which are superimposed on a sore nail.
To prepare kombucha you need three liters of tea and a half cup of sugar. The tea should 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 does not take more than a month and a half to mature.
The whole foot is then wrapped in polyethylene: this is an additional factor that deprives the fungus of access to oxygen, which speeds up the process of eradicating the parasite. Warm socks are worn over the polyethylene and in this form you can go to bed, removing the compress in the morning. The procedure is repeated daily until complete recovery.
If the previous methods did not work, you can try using essential oils. In fact, these inexpensive drugs are almost exact analogues of expensive antifungal drugs, therefore, in terms of their properties and effectiveness, the essential drugs are close to any pharmaceutical antifungal.
The advantage of essential oils is that they act in a complex way, providing an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, cleansing and regenerating effect, so healing is quick and painless. Unlike many antifungal creams and gels, which completely destroy the affected nail plate, essential oils cleanse the affected areas.
You can use such products in different forms, for the preparation of the product the whole container with essential oil is used completely:
- As a compress: the essential oil should be heated to a temperature of 30 degrees in a water bath, then add a few tablespoons of water to dilute the viscosity. Tampons or cloths are impregnated with such oil, which are fixed to the diseased nail for no more than an hour. After removing the compress, you can see that the affected part of the nail is peeled off, but the main cleaned part of it remains (it will later be covered with a new protective layer).
- For baths: pour three liters of hot water into a tub and add ten drops of essential oil. Just keep your feet in a tub for 20-30 minutes, after which they should be wiped dry and wrapped in a thick towel for a while.
- As an ointment: the essential oil is applied in any quantity on pre-steamed diseased nails. Afterwards, the oil does not need to be removed; it is necessary to apply such an amount to be completely absorbed into the nail plate (this is discovered empirically).
You can use absolutely any essential oil to your taste:
- tea tree oil;
- ylang-ylang;
- vaj rosemary;
- vaj anise;
- bitter orange oil;
- basil oil;
- bergamot oil;
- immortal oil;
- vetiver oil and any other.
The only contraindication in this case may be an allergy to the ingredients of a certain type of oil.
Such recipes are used until complete recovery.
Fungi are a dangerous and common disease that requires immediate treatment. In the absence of adequate measures, such a disease can develop into a chronic form, which is sometimes absolutely impossible to get rid of. Often, experts recommend abandoning the use of folk remedies, but according to statistics, onychomycosis is most often cured with the help of traditional medicine, but to get a positive effect, you need to choose the right prescription that is right for you.