You don't always need treatment for toenail fungus. And sometimes, over-the-counter and personal care products eliminate the infection. Talk to your healthcare provider if your condition doesn't improve. To treat toenail fungus, apply oregano oil to the affected nail twice a day with a cotton swab.
Some people use oregano oil and tea tree oil together. You can buy antifungal nail creams, gels, and polishes in-store and online without a prescription. You might want to try one of them first if the infection doesn't look bad. Some people also rely on home remedies, such as menthol oil, tea tree oil, mouthwash, or snake root extract, but studies show mixed results.
Effective products include efinaconazole (Jublia), tavaborol (Kerydin), and ciclopirox (Penlac). All require daily applications and it can take up to a year to see a noticeable improvement. These products can work to treat early superficial fungal infections because they kill fungi found on the surface of the nail. Filing the surface of the nail may allow them to penetrate deeper into the nail or nail bed.
In studies, their cure rate averaged around 35%. Soaking your feet in an all-natural homeopathic blend may be beneficial in reducing or eliminating toenail fungus. If the natural remedies for toenail fungus mentioned above don't work, there are other effective treatments for toenail fungus available at your local drugstore. Home remedies may be more effective than prescription drugs for treating toenail fungus mildly to moderately.
Prescription oral antifungals, such as terbinafine (Lamisil) or fluconazole (Diflucan), are traditionally used to treat toenail fungus. When your feet sweat or stay damp or damp, the chance that the fungus will grow on your toenails increases. A study found that ozonized oil is an effective home remedy for toenail fungus caused by certain strains. Penlac (ciclopirox), Kerydin (tavaborol), and Jublia (efinaconazole) are among the top prescription drugs for treating toenail fungus.
Many home treatments quickly improve the appearance of the nail, but the fungus itself does not go away until the new, healthy nail has replaced the old, damaged one. Snake root extract, made from plants in the sunflower family, is an all-natural homeopathic antifungal treatment that is also used to treat toenail fungus. Many people use essential oils to treat toenail fungus to avoid the side effects that prescription drugs can cause. While they're coming back, your doctor will likely give you a cream or other treatment to put on your nail bed to keep the fungus away.
Baking soda, the active ingredient in baking soda, can absorb moisture and, at the same time, its healing properties reduce toenail fungus. Although designed to suppress coughs, its active ingredients (camphor and eucalyptus oil) can help treat toenail fungus. You can use hydrogen peroxide to treat toenail fungus by rubbing it on infected toes or toenails with a clean cloth or cotton swab. Knowing the specific cause of foot fungus can help identify the best treatment for toenail fungus.
Only a laboratory test performed with a scraping of the toenail can show with certainty that the fungus is responsible for the distortion of the nails...