Toenail Fungus

[Billyboy294]

I have had toenail fungus for a few years, Tries a few liquids but no better. Recent suggestion was Apple Cider Vinegar with no obvious improvement but the toenails while not very pretty are not a problem.

I have hammer toes and the 2nd toe on each foot takes most pressure and hard skin builds up which I try and remove using scissors or a special file.

These two toes are now very painful at the slightest touch. I assumed it was a normal infection but after much googlng i think it is fungal infection.

I understand that tablets are much more effective than paints and  Terbinafine (Lamisil)and Itracanasole are two which have been recommended.. i have tried Boots, Watsons and Fascino but they dont seem to advertise capsules on the web. The only price i could find was for Lamisil $860 for 30 x 250mg (yes $28 for one tablet.) and take 1 per day for 12 weeks.

Anyone had a similar problem. I did consult a doctor here a few years ago and he gave me some antibiotics and a small tube of ointment. I do plan to visit a doctor again but best to get some more info first.

[likeaking]

I've had severe toenail fungus or decades. My dermatologist said he could put me on Lamisil but I would have to have regular liver panels (tests) done while using it. Apparently there a remote chance of a serious side effect with the liver that can result in transplant or death. I couldn't be arsed with the hassle/risk so didn't do it. Do thorough research before self-medicating make sure your liver is functioning properly before starting the regimen. Various sourced say the success rate of ridding nails of the fungus is around 70%

Edited March 9, 2019 by likeaking

[Billyboy294]

Thanks for post.

I went to my small local Pharmacy and i was offered Lamisil cream. I said i really wanted capsules and she said she would have to order and were expensive. She phoned her supplier and the cost was 1,200 baht for 14. I said i would try the cream (240 baht for 15mg)

[Tatanka]

All I know that it's a nightmare to get rid of toenail fungus. I have it for several years now on the biggest toe on both feet.

Doctor told me to keep my feet dry and change my socks regularly during the day.  Impossible to do when someone has to wear boots at work.

I just have to live with it I guess. All creams have failed so far.

[likeaking]

1 hour ago, Tatanka said:

All I know that it's a nightmare to get rid of toenail fungus. I have it for several years now on the biggest toe on both feet.

Doctor told me to keep my feet dry and change my socks regularly during the day.  Impossible to do when someone has to wear boots at work.

I just have to live with it I guess. All creams have failed so far.

I asked my dermatologist about laser therapy to get rid of toenail fungus and he said that it only works and the lightest of cases, which mine isn't.

[rob63]

I am not crazy. My Filipina gf solved this problem for a family member of mine.

The medicines are shit. The doctor told my relative it would take years for the fungus to clear up and it was also causing damage.

Guava leaves boiled and nails regularly placed in the resulting solution. Cleared up totally in about 3 weeks.

No money to be made with that remedy, so we didn't know about it in England.

[31below]

Tried lots of things but nothing much worked.

Till I used a small rotary sander to thin the nail down to normal thickness.

Then apply bleach gel from a bleach pen. It is very diluted so does not

hurt the skin. Not completely gone yet but 95% better. Nail is almost normal

color and thickness now all by itself. Use bleach pen just once a week.

Would like to get rid of it but if not at least easier to live with the way it is now.

[SteveX08]

18 hours ago, rob63 said:

Guava leaves boiled and nails regularly placed in the resulting solution. Cleared up totally in about 3 weeks.

How many leaves in how much water?  And how long to soak the nails for?

I’m all for natural remedies if they work,

[Hot&Spicy]

There is a place in Naklua, where they remove infected nails without damage to the toes.

http://www.bios-logos-thailand.com/bios-logos-removal-toenails.html

[rob63]

32 minutes ago, SteveX08 said:

How many leaves in how much water?  And how long to soak the nails for?

I’m all for natural remedies if they work,

I am not sure about the measurements, but the leaves were free and the solution doesn't harm yoru skin, so go for as concentrated as possible. Likewise soak the hell out of the infected area as much as possible, because it doesn't harm the skin, but does kill the fungus.

[likeaking]

1 hour ago, Hot&Spicy said:

There is a place in Naklua, where they remove infected nails without damage to the toes.

http://www.bios-logos-thailand.com/bios-logos-removal-toenails.html

At the top of their contact form it says, "Smokers have no chance of success with Bios.". Probably because smoking reduces peripheral arterial blood flow needed for new tissue/nail growth. Interesting alternative to medication, though, if it works.

Edited March 10, 2019 by likeaking

[SteveX08]

Removing the toenail does not remove the fungus.  Fungus is a persistent organism and very hard to eradicate completely.  I’ve tried many things without success, including removal of a toenail...

[Evil]

Hot water bath with tea tree oil, vinegar and Epsom salt.

[CJKHawaii]

You could try ciclopirox medicated nail polish. Fungus is persistent. I remember my dad dealing with it for years. He eventually had to come up with a routine of blow drying his feet after getting out of the shower and carrying extra socks.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

[Billyboy294]

Can anyone recommend  a Doctor . Dr Ben who was quite popular does not seem to be functioning too well just now.

[article22]

I went to a clinic on Phratamnak 6 alley, where I got the standard tablets and creams.

Any hospital doctor would also do, not exactly the most difficult of diagnosis

 

The treatment helped but was expensive as I carried on for 3 months and it never got rid of it completely.

So now trying the guava leaves and thyme in a hot water bowl, soaking my feet for 30 mins a day and using the normal Liquid Loprox (70 baht) 2 x day.

Will see what happens over the next few weeks...at least it is a cheap long term medication.

 

http://www.sterishoe.com/foot-care-blog/toenail-fungus-treatments/is-it-thyme-for-a-toenail-fungus-cure/

 

[ricktoronto]

There is a really expensive topical Liquid with a litany of side effects which name escapes me now.  What worked once for me was mixing clotrimazol which is an anti fungal (Lamisil cream would be pretty similar)  with tea tree oil which is cheap.  The oil helped it penetrate.  It takes weeks but clotrimazole or Lamisil are pretty easily tolerated even on your balls so toenails no prob.  Take a forever but it worked and cost peanuts.  I applied it 3 or 4 times a day. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by ricktoronto

[ricktoronto]

The name just came back. Jublia $500 plus per bottle. 

[Roadglide]

What worked for me here in the states was oral medication, downside of this is that they need to do blood test to monitor your liver function.  In order to cure this fungus you need to get to the root of the problem so topical medications will not work.

[ricktoronto]

11 hours ago, Roadglide said:

What worked for me here in the states was oral medication, downside of this is that they need to do blood test to monitor your liver function.  In order to cure this fungus you need to get to the root of the problem so topical medications will not work.

Except the ones that do work. I would look at strong oral antifungals as the last resort, because what you said is wrong. For you does not mean for the population at large. 

The issue is it's hard to deliver topicals to the nail bed. If one soaks their feet (soften the nail) and adds the 50/50 tea tree oil/clotrimazole cream (or Lamisil cream but it's expensive) and they do it regularly, it will work at a low cost and no side effects and risk to the liver. 

It is certainly a better way to start than to assume your one piece of evidence is all the evidence. The Jublia does work too, but it is far too costly and the alternative worth trying is very cheap and does the same thing by getting an antifungal through the hard nail.

[rogersugar]

I have it on my left big toe. For many years it was just a discolouration across the corner of the nail and I never attributed it to a fungus until such time as the whole nail became infected.

From time to time I have tried some of the topical solutions without any success. I would rather live with it than take any oral medication that may have a negative impact on kidneys, just not worth it in my opinion.

Anyway, perhaps eighteen months ago I noticed the nail was growing out clear and in time the whole nail was normal and fungus free. I was not taking anything specifically to fix the fungus so can only assume it was a byproduct of one of the supplements I was taking at the time. (I am always trying different supplements looking for things that may improve my general health)

Subsequently the fungus came back and I assume it was because I stopped taking the supplement that 'may' have cleared it in the first place.

With some of us trying different methods I am thinking it might be a good idea if we take photos of the offending digits so that anyone having success at removing the fungus can present before and after pictures with the treatment used and the time taken to effect a cure.

I will start a trial today of the supplement that I think may caused my 'temporary success' and hope I am on the right track.

[DrewM]

For anybody still reading this, I can share with you my experience.  It started on my small toe in my mid-30s and gradually spread to all ten toes by the time by the time I was in my mid 40s. Over the years, I tried a lot of nonprescription liquids, gels and creams none of which made a difference.

Every time I'd ask my GP about it she would rattle off the various treatments and would end up prescribing various liquids all of which came in what looked like a nail polish bottle with an included brush.   The various prescription liquids never worked for me.  The biggest problem was I had it on all ten toes and those tiny prescription bottles said to apply two coats a day to each infected nail. Applying them to all my nails,  I could get only get two days worth of applications in before I emptied one of those tiny bottles. Insurance would only refill the prescription once a month. 

The condition continued to deteriorate. Portions of my nails would literally disintegrate. They no longer just flaked at the surface and on the ends. When I would press down on the nails of my big toes with my finger, the nails felt like they were liquefying or slowly melting off my toes. Shoes were painful to put on and wear. With how they looked, I sure wasn't going to try and wear sandals or flip flops. Socks were worn whenever there was any boom boom time with lady friends.

I go back to the GP and flat out tell her I want Lamisil and for probably the 10th time she rattled off all the bad side effects. When I wasn't swayed this time, she said, nope, I am not going to prescribe it  and suggested I learn to live with it. 

I got desperate and looked up various home remedies on the Internet. I tried vinegar, Vicks salve and a few other things. None of them worked.

Finally, I made an appointment with a podiatrist.  He said since I tried the liquids all that was left was Laser removal, Lamisil and surgically removing the nails so they would never grow back. He recommended I should do something soon though as he suspected given the severity of my case that eventually the infection would spread to my fingernails.   He gave me the pros and cons of each treatment.

Laser - It takes up to 6-months to know if it works because enough of the new nail has to grow in after the treatment to see if your new nails are clear of infection. Then it would be up to another 6 months for the new nails to grow completely in. He also said in his experience most people that have this done have to get redone every couple of years.

Surgical - During recovery you would have a few days off from work and you would have to deal with some pain until they completely healed up.  He said since it was on booth feet in my case, he would only do one foot at a time. Otherwise, I'd have to have two weeks down time. Of course the biggest downside was he said that I'd probably never want to go bare-feet or wear sandals because my nail less toes wouldn't look normal. One of the most difficult things to deal with when you have a bad case of this, is how to handle it when going to the pool or the beach, so there wasn't a lot of appeal in having feet that would scare children.  The upside of this treatment was that it would be a permanent solution. 

Lamisil - He said the health risks were minimal. The timeline for clear nails was about the same as the laser treatment.  He said the biggest downside was like the laser treatment the condition could come back but likely less quickly than it would with the laser treatment. I opted for this treatment. I did have to have a blood test, but he wrote me a prescription that day and sent me to the nearby hospital for the blood work.  He said he would have the results that afternoon, so If I didn't hear from him that afternoon, I was good to go.   I started taking them that night and it ended up being one of the best decisions I ever made.

I could tell after three months it was working. In 10 months my nails were completely clear and they still are six years later. It also knocked out my recurring athletes feet and I can proudly walk around bare footed and I get to wear sandals in the summer. Plus, I don't have to leave the socks on during boom boom time.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2019 by DrewM
typos

[storytime]

There was an episode of this from, King of the hill, where bill has that fungus.

[Gerter23]

I get that on my toes every single time I stay in Thailand. But as soon as I go back to Europe it disappears without any kind of treatment. I have no idea why. Maybe it's because in Europe I don't walk without shoes that often or because of humidity.

[quietguy77]

I got it on one toenail when I stayed in Hua Hin six years ago. When I got home it started to spread to toenails on either side. I got some toenail fungus varnish from pharmacist, I can't remember the name. It did stop the fungus on the two adjoining toes quite quickly, but took about 4 months to kill the fungus on first infected toe.

That toenail was still thicker and distorted. It's only just started to look about normal now. I did read that 100% pure Tea Tree oil (Melaleuca alternifolia) can help, so I ordered some online. It's quite cheap, around £1.50 for a 100 ml bottle. I've started applying it every day. I can't say yet if it is working but will continue with it. 

Edited July 9, 2019 by quietguy77