Nail fungus (onychomycosis) is a mass disease that easily spreads in unhygienic conditions, in public places, and can also be caused by excessive sweating of the feet as a consequence of wearing poor quality footwear. If the rules of personal and general hygiene are not followed, onychomycosis quickly affects the toenails and then they must undergo long and expensive treatments, which do not always guarantee complete relief from the disease.
How to recognize a fungus
Sometimes a person does not attach importance to the fact that the nail has changed color, structure, become brittle or, conversely, thick and hard. Moreover, the primary symptoms of onychomycosis are not obvious, although at this stage treatment can still help to resolve the problem quickly.
Treatment should be started immediately if the following symptoms are detected:
- appearance of inconspicuous streaks, spots or whitish spots on the nails;
- loss of natural nail shine and the formation of cloudy, whitish or brownish areas;
- delamination of the nail plate;
- inflammation of the skin near diseased nails.
Characteristic signs of onychomycosis are itching, tingling, dryness and peeling. If at least two or three of these signs are detected, it indicates that it is time to start treatment.
Effective traditional medicine
Various remedies are used to treat nail fungus - from over-the-counter medicines and chemicals to herbs. You often 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, because untreated onychomycosis tends to manifest itself in the form of recurrence and lead to the defeat of new, healthy nails.
Available drugs and medicines
Some improvised means that are in the closet or first aid kit in each apartment are effective antifungal drugs. These drugs include ordinary iodine whose constant rubbing into the affected nail can quickly achieve a complete cure of the disease, but only in the early stages of onychomycosis.
The standard course of iodine treatment involves the daily use of a 5% solution, which must 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 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 medicine, diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 1, is also rubbed into the affected nail and changes for the better can be seen after the first week.
Hydrogen peroxide is considered a more benign agent: cotton pads soaked in this product must be applied to sore nails so that such coatings can be easily repaired by wearing socks. The discs need to be changed twice a day, provided you wear shoes constantly (for example, at work). This will soften the affected nails, after which the diseased segments and areas are easily removed.
Popular antifungal drugs among the people are soda and propolis, which can be used in many ways.
- Soda. Baking soda is added to a bowl of hot water in the amount 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 the essential oil of celandine, after the feet have dried. It is applied until complete recovery.
- Propolis. 10 grams of propolis are added to one hundred grams of alcohol, and the product must be pressed as firmly 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 placed on the foot or a tight bandage is applied. You can change such a bandage only after one day. It is used until complete healing of onychomycosis.
- 20% alcoholic solution of propolis. The affected areas of the nail are lubricated daily with the product. Reported two weeks.
These funds usually give results in 7-10 days after the start of the course. If these methods fail, you need to try other recipes.
Herbal treatment
Herbs are the safest natural ingredient in certain recipes to help cure onychomycosis quickly. Golden mustache is most often 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 affected nail two or three times a day every day until the fungus is completely eliminated.
Lilac flowers are also antifungal if properly prepared. It is enough to pour 10 grams of freshly picked flowers of this plant with one hundred grams of pure alcohol and leave it to stand for two weeks - and the product is ready. It should be applied in the same way as before.
An interesting method that does not involve external, but internal use. To prepare such a medicine, it is necessary to take ten grams of the following herbs:
- blackberry leaves;
- Oak bark;
- horsetail;
- marigold flowers;
- verbena.
The mixture of these herbs is poured over a glass of boiling water and boiled on the fire for fifteen minutes. The medicine is taken 4 times a day, one tablespoon.
Other folk remedies
You can use birch tar for treatment, which can now be purchased at any pharmacy. This tool is used as follows:
- In the evening, steam your feet well and rub with laundry soap for 15-20 minutes.
- Softened nails should be shortened, and special attention should be paid to the removal of diseased exfoliated areas.
- The nails are densely coated with birch tar, which must be left for an hour and a half to two.
- After this time, the feet can be wiped off the tar and washed thoroughly, the procedure is repeated once a week until the nails heal.
Kombucha is effective against onychomycosis. This tool is used for dressings: a tight bandage, gauze or a piece of cloth is impregnated in kombucha, which are placed on the sore nail.
To prepare kombucha you will need three liters of tea and one and a half cups of sugar. The tea must be poured into a three-liter jar and left in a warm place for a few days: during this period, a film that looks like ordinary mold forms on the surface of the liquid. 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.
The whole foot is then wrapped in polyethylene: this is an additional factor that denies the fungus access to oxygen, which speeds up the process of extermination of parasites. Warm socks are worn over polyethylene and in this form you can go to bed and take off the bandage in the morning. The procedure is repeated daily until complete recovery.
If previous methods have failed, you can try using essential oils. In fact, these cheap drugs are almost exact analogues of expensive antifungal drugs, so their properties and effectiveness are essential drugs close to all pharmaceutical antifungals.
The advantage of essential oils is that they have a complex effect, providing 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 clean the affected areas.
You can use such products in different forms, the whole container with essential oil is completely used for the preparation of the product:
- As a compress: the essential oil must be heated to a temperature of 30 degrees in a water bath, and then add a couple of tablespoons of water to dilute the viscosity. Tampons or cloth are impregnated in such oil, which are fixed on the diseased nail for no longer than one hour. After removing the coating, you can see that the affected part of the nail has peeled off, but its main part remains clean (it will later be covered with a new protective layer).
- For baths: three liters of hot water are poured into the basin and ten drops of essential oil are added. It is enough to keep the feet in the basin for 20-30 minutes, after which they need to be dried and wrapped in a thick towel for a while.
- As an ointment: the essential oil is applied in any amount to previously steamed diseased nails. After that, the oil does not need to be removed, it is necessary to apply such an amount that 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.
Fungi are a dangerous and common disease that requires urgent 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, onychomycosis is most often treated with the help of traditional medicine, but to achieve a positive effect, you must choose the right recipe that suits you.