Toenail fungus (onychomycosis) is a common disease that spreads easily in unsanitary conditions, in public places, and can also result from excessive sweating of the feet as a result of wearing poor-quality shoes. If the rules of personal and general hygiene are not observed, onychomycosis quickly attacks the toenails, and then you have to undergo long and expensive treatments that do not always guarantee complete relief from the disease.
How to recognize a mushroom
Sometimes a person does not care that the nail has changed color and structure, has become brittle or, conversely, thick and hard. In addition, the primary symptoms of onychomycosis are not obvious, although treatment at this stage can still help resolve the problem quickly.
Treatment should begin immediately if the following symptoms are detected:
- the appearance on the nails of inconspicuous stripes, dots or whitish 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.
Characteristic signs of onychomycosis are itching, burning, dryness and peeling. When at least two or three of these signs are found, it is time to start treatment.
Effective traditional medicine
Various means are used to treat nail fungus - from medicines sold over the counter in pharmacies to chemicals and medicinal plants. Often you have to try different methods or combine several of them to get a positive result. The main thing with such treatment is not to stop and end the course, since untreated onychomycosis will manifest itself in the form of relapses and lead to the defeat of new, healthy nails.
Available medicines and remedies
Some improvised remedies that are available in every apartment in a closet or first-aid kit are effective antifungal agents. Such funds include ordinary iodine, with which constant rubbing into the affected nail allows you to quickly achieve complete healing of the disease, but only at the first stages of onychomycosis.
The standard treatment with iodine involves the daily application of a 5% solution, which must be rubbed into the nail twice a day (morning and before bedtime) for a month. After a few weeks of treatment, you may feel pain on 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 with the same frequency, and after the first week you can see changes for the better.
Hydrogen peroxide is considered a more harmless agent: cotton pads soaked in it must be put on sore nails, so such compresses can be fixed simply by putting on a sock. It is necessary to change discs twice a day, provided that you constantly wear shoes (for example, at work). This softens the affected nails, after which the diseased segments and areas can be easily removed.
Popular antifungals among people are soda ash and propolis, which can be used in a variety of ways.
- Lemonade. Baking soda is added to a bowl of hot water at one tablespoon per three liters of boiling water. After steaming the legs in such a liquid for thirty minutes, the nails affected by onychomycosis must be lubricated with celandine essential oil, after wiping the feet dry. It is used until full recovery.
- propolis. 10 grams of propolis are added to 100 grams of alcohol, the product after steaming must be stuffed as tightly as possible under the affected nails. The tool can also be applied to the surface of the diseased nail, after which a sock is pulled over the leg or a tight bandage is applied. You can change such a bandage only after a day. Used until complete healing of onychomycosis.
- 20% alcohol solution of propolis. The affected areas of the nail are lubricated with the product daily. Used for two weeks.
These funds usually give results 7-10 days after the start of the course. If these methods don't work, you need to try other recipes.
herbal treatment
Herbs are the safest natural ingredient that helps in certain recipes to cure onychomycosis fast. 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. A week later, the finished infusion is diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 3 and applied daily to the diseased nail 2-3 times a day until the fungus is completely eliminated.
Common lilac flowers are also antifungal when properly prepared. It is enough to pour 10 grams of freshly picked flowers of this plant with a hundred grams of pure alcohol and leave for two weeks - and the product is ready. It should be applied in the same way as the previous one.
An interesting method that is used not externally, but internally. To prepare such a remedy, you need to take ten grams of the following plants:
- blackberry leaves;
- oak bark;
- field horsetail;
- calendula 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 1 tablespoon 4 times a day.
Other folk remedies
For treatment, you can use birch tar, which is now available in any pharmacy. This tool is used as follows:
- In the evening, the legs are well steamed and rubbed with laundry soap for 15-20 minutes.
- Softened nails should be trimmed short, paying special attention to removing diseased exfoliated areas.
- The nails are thickly coated with birch tar, which must take effect for one and a half to two hours.
- After this time, the feet can be wiped from the tar and thoroughly washed, 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 piece of cloth is impregnated with kombucha, which is placed on a sore nail.
To prepare Kombucha you need three liters of tea and one and a half glasses of sugar. Tea must be poured into a three-liter jar and kept in a warm place for several days: during this time a film will form on the surface of the liquid, which will look like ordinary mold. At this point, sugar is added to the jar, which speeds up the growth process of kombucha. It usually takes no more than a month and a half to mature.
The entire 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 destroying the parasite. Warm socks are pulled over the polyethylene, and in this form you can go to bed and remove the compress in the morning. The procedure is repeated daily until full recovery.
If the previous methods didn't work, you can try essential oils. In fact, these cheap drugs are almost exact analogues of expensive antifungals, therefore, in terms of their properties and effectiveness, essential drugs are close to all pharmacy antifungals.
The advantage of essential oils is that they work in a complex way and have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, cleansing and regenerating effects, so recovery is quick and painless. Unlike many antifungal creams and gels, which completely destroy the affected nail plate, essential oils cleanse the diseased areas.
You can use such products in different forms, for the preparation of the product the entire container of essential oil is used in full:
- As a compress: the essential oil must be heated in a water bath to a temperature of 30 degrees, then add a few tablespoons of water to dilute the viscosity. Tampons or towels 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 the main cleaned part remains (later it will be covered with a new protective layer).
- For baths: three liters of hot water are poured into a basin and ten drops of essential oil are added. It is enough to keep the legs in a basin for 20-30 minutes, after which they need to be wiped dry and wrapped in a thick towel for a while.
- As an ointment: Essential oil is applied in any amount to pre-vaporized diseased nails. Subsequently, the oil does not need to be removed, it is necessary to apply an amount that completely absorbs into the nail plate (this is determined 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 others.
The only contraindication in this case may be an allergy to the components of a particular type of oil.
Such recipes are used until full recovery.
Fungus is 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. Experts often recommend abandoning the use of folk remedies, but according to statistics, most often onychomycosis is cured with the help of traditional medicine, but in order to achieve a positive effect, you need to choose the right recipe that is right for you.