Are You Suffering From Toenail Fungus? You Need To See This!

It is highly recommended to keep your nails trimmed and filed as this can help to reduce the amount of fungus in the nails. This also helps to alleviate pains that may be caused due to pressure from thickened nails.

The use of creams and other topical medications have been proven to be less effective against nail fungus than oral medications. This is mainly because it won't be very much comfortable for external applications to penetrate deep into the nails because they are too hard. It is also awkward to adhere to topical medication regimens. Most times, these external treatments require daily applications for a more extended period, mostly up to a year to see results. One significant advantage of the external treatments is the minimal risk of severe side effects and drug interactions as compared to oral therapy.
Depending on the medication, oral nail fungus treatment works about 50%-75% of the time. Since nails spend up to a year or more to grow out, it will also take up to that time to see the effect of the oral medication. Even when it works out well, the fungus may come back about 20%-50% of the time. Currently, oral antifungal therapy is now considered as the best treatment for toenail fungus infection because of higher treatment rates and smaller treatment duration as compared to topical therapy. 

There now exist several innovative treatments that are still being tested:
The use of Laser therapy or photodynamic therapy – this application makes use of light-activated agents onto the nail followed by shining light of a proper wavelength on the nail.
The use of electrical current – this helps in the absorption of topical antifungal medications into the nail - this is also called iontophoresis.

The use of a special nail lacquer – this helps to change the micro-climate of the nail to make it unfriendly for the fungus to grow - If this works well, it may be an inexpensive way to treat this problem of nail fungus in the future.
One way to finally get rid of toenail fungus is by surgery. Surgical treatment of onychomycosis involves the total removal of the nail. However, this often only provides temporary relief, and recurrence is common unless another antifungal medication (oral or topical) is concurrently used. Nevertheless, surgical removal may be acceptable when the affected nail is related with other factors such as trauma and or infection.

Are there home remedies for toenail fungus?
There are many home remedies available nowadays. Vinegar is a commonly recommended home remedy. Application of various oils like tea tree oil, coconut oil, essential oils, and oil of cedar leaf (such as Vicks VapoRub) is also done by many people to their nails as well. Their effectiveness is doubtful though. Some people also use household bleach and hydrogen peroxide to treat toenail fungus, but this is not recommended as there is no evidence that they are useful. They can also cause skin irritation. The use of tropical cream can be an adequate home remedy to cure toenail fungus.

Are there over-the-counter treatments for toenail fungus?
The over-the-counter (OTC) are products that are readily available by ordinary retail purchase, not requiring a prescription or a license. Although there are few OTC medications that are aimed to treat fungal nails, many of them have not been tested and so are not approved. Most OTC agents are aimed at treating a fungal infection of the skin rather than the nail. Some of the ingredients in most medications inhibit fungal growth; however, they may not penetrate adequately to the nail to be effective in treating fungal nails.