Onychomycosis (nail fungus) is one of the most common infections on our planet. It protects us in the bathroom, at the pool, in the beauty salon during pedicures, on the beach and while sorting out shoes. The disease develops rapidly and very quickly affects not only the nail plates, but also the skin areas surrounding them. It is important not to miss the onset of the disease, when it is still possible to treat nail fungus with folk remedies.
Treatment of fungal diseases in general, and onychomycosis in particular, is still one of the most complex and unsolved problems in medicine. Every third inhabitant of our planet suffers from this disease (according to WHO).
Symptoms of the disease
It is impossible not to notice this disease even in the earliest stages of development. This greatly facilitates diagnosis and enables timely initiation of pathology treatment. First of all, the color of the nail begins to change: from pale pink to yellow, brown, and sometimes black. Other typical symptoms of this disease include:
- itching of the skin around the nails;
- grooves, spots or inclusions on the nail plate;
- pain;
- peeling nails;
- rotten smell;
- deviation of the plate from the nail bed;
- A white coating appears under the nail plate on the soft tissues.
How does the infection occur?
Nail fungus is possible in people with a weakened immune system and with skin changes related to aging. The risk of infection increases significantly in patients suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and thyroid gland. At the first signs of infection, it is necessary to consult a doctor immediately to establish a diagnosis and start treatment. Otherwise, the infection will spread to other areas. All family members of an infected person are at risk. During the treatment period, you must stop walking barefoot on the floor. When taking a shower, it is necessary to strictly follow simple hygiene rules (rinse the bathroom well, use a personal towel).
Is it possible to get rid of nail fungus using folk remedies?
This is a very common question. Yes, in the early stages of the disease it is not difficult to do this. The situation is much worse with an advanced form, when the disease can seriously harm health:
- weaken the immune system;
- cause an allergic reaction;
- cause exacerbation of chronic diseases.
Witch doctors and healers know how to treat toenail fungus with folk remedies. Of course, it will not be possible to solve the problem quickly (in a few days), but it will still be a positive result. Traditional medicines are divided into two groups:
- for internal use – teas, tinctures, decoctions;
- for external use - solutions, poultices, ointments.
By combining these methods, you can get rid of the disease and restore health. Below we will describe how to treat nail fungus at home using folk remedies.
Preparations based on celandine
This plant is well known not only to experts in the field of herbal medicine, but also to ordinary citizens: many have seen small bushes covered with small yellow flowers near houses and along roads in the spring. But not everyone knows that the plant has disinfecting and wound-healing properties. It is also used to treat nail fungus. Celandine is most often used in the form of a tincture. It is also possible to use pure vegetable juice.
Fresh Juice
The simplest way to use celandine is to smear the damaged nail plate and cuticle with the juice of the plant three times a day. Treatment continues for a week.
Tincture of vodka
Wash and dry the celandine grass well, chop it and place it in a glass container. Fill the raw material with vodka (1: 2). Close the jar tightly and put it in a dark place for two weeks. The tincture is taken according to the following scheme: the first three days - 3 drops, diluting them in ½ glass of water. Then every day the dose is increased by 1 drop. When it reaches 20 drops, it gradually decreases to three.
Celandine and marigold
How else can you cure toenail fungus? Folk remedies, for example, celandine and calendula, are very effective in the fight against this pathology. Add two drops of calendula and oregano tincture to a teaspoon of celandine juice. Add 4 tablespoons to the resulting mixture. l. water. The composition is applied to the affected nail plate three times a day.
Vinegar in the treatment of fungi
Healers claim that vinegar can help treat nail fungus. Folk remedies can be different based on this. Next, let's look at a few popular recipes.
Vinegar essence
Treat the affected nail plate with 70% acetic acid. However, this rather aggressive method is not suitable for people with disorders of the heart and blood vessels, who suffer from allergic reactions to this substance and hypertension.
Egg and vinegar
Perhaps this is the most common folk method of treating nail fungus, which allows you to quickly get rid of the pathology. To make the medicine, you will need apple cider vinegar and a chicken egg, preferably homemade. Pour vinegar into a 200 ml glass jar, put an egg in it and put it in a dark place. When the egg is completely melted, remove the film that remains after it, pour the resulting mixture into another glass container, add a teaspoon of butter and mix well.
Scald your feet, apply the product to the affected areas, cover with a bandage folded several times, wrap with plastic wrap and fasten. After 12-14 hours, the nail will rise and soften. It must be cut with previously disinfected scissors. The procedures are repeated until the symptoms of the disease disappear.
Grease
Mix one part of glycerin, o-phthalic acid dimethyl ester, olive oil with two parts of acetic acid (70%). The ointment is applied to the affected nails for 8-10 hours. It is recommended to perform the procedure before going to bed.
Foot baths
Table vinegar (200 ml) is added to water heated to 50 °C. Its level should reach the ankles. Your feet float in this solution for a quarter of an hour. The procedure is performed three times a week.
Use of iodine
Many people are interested in the quick treatment of nail fungus with folk remedies. At the beginning of the article, we said that a positive result can be achieved only in the initial stage of the disease. Onychomycosis can be treated with ordinary iodine. This is an affordable but painful procedure that is preferably performed on weekends.
Steam well and dry your feet. Lubricate the infected nail plates with iodine, bury it in the cracks until it stops being absorbed. After a while you will feel a strong burning sensation that you should endure. If the discomfort is unbearable, lower your feet into a basin of cold water. At the beginning of the disease, one procedure is enough for healing.
Soda
Traditional methods are often used in the treatment of onychomycosis. How to treat nail fungus with baking soda? The powder is used for warm baths in the amount of two tablespoons per three liters of water. To make the procedure more effective, add half a spoon (teaspoon) of grated laundry soap to the water. The procedure takes at least quarter of an hour. After finishing, your feet do not need to be wiped: let them dry naturally. Then you have to put on cotton socks. For complete healing, such procedures should be performed every three days for a month.
Essential oils
Many people say that if the disease is advanced, it is quite difficult to cure toenail fungus with folk remedies. Healers believe that essential oils cope well with this task. They are compared in terms of their effectiveness with expensive antifungal drugs. In addition to the antifungal effect, the oils also have a number of useful properties:
- cleaning;
- regenerating;
- anti-inflammatory;
- bactericidal.
Essential oils not only destroy fungal cells, but also restore the normal condition of the nail plate. These nail fungus treatments are used in different procedures:
- Compresses.Heat the tea tree oil to 30°C and dilute it with two teaspoons of warm water. Soak a cotton pad with the resulting mixture and place it on the nail plate for an hour. After the procedure, it will become soft and elastic, which will allow it to be trimmed.
- Baths.Pour three liters of hot water into the basin, add ylang-ylang essential oil, add rosemary or lavender (10 drops). Immerse your clean feet in the solution for a quarter of an hour. After the procedure, wrap your feet in a warm towel for a quarter of an hour.
- Use in its pure form.If there are no allergic reactions to the oil, you can use it to lubricate the nail plate, previously scalded in hot water with 72% laundry soap. Soak a cotton swab in the oil and apply it to the affected nails. It should not be rinsed off.
Tincture of propolis
There are many traditional methods for treating nail fungus. A universal and safe medicine is propolis, or rather its alcoholic tincture. The drug has fungicidal, wound healing and bacteriostatic properties.
In onychomycosis, propolis does not allow the pathogen to multiply. Judging by the reviews, itching and inflammation disappear after just a few procedures. Gradually, the affected nail is replaced by a healthy one. There are several ways to treat pathology with propolis:
- A piece of propolis is applied to the affected nail, previously scalded in a solution of potassium permanganate, for half an hour. The procedure should be performed twice a day for a month.
- Moisten the cotton pad with an alcohol solution (20%) of propolis and apply it to the nail plate, covering it with a dry cotton ball from above. Wrap your finger at the end of the procedure. The bandage can be removed after a day and the softened nail can be removed.
Tea mushroom
The medicinal properties of this unique drug are used in the treatment of many infectious diseases. You can use this folk remedy to treat nail fungus. Use it as follows:
- separate a thin layer from the fungus, soak it in water for an hour, then apply a piece to each affected nail;
- cover the compress with plastic film and put on a woolen sock;
- Leave the compress overnight.
The procedure, during which burning and itching can be felt, is repeated every two days until the symptoms of the disease disappear.
Garlic
Many patients are interested in which folk remedies can treat nail fungus. Many of the medicines are always available in every home. For example, garlic, which is no less effective than special antifungal drugs.
- Pour a glass of apple cider vinegar over a clove of garlic in a glass container with a lid and put it in a dark place for two weeks. The finished composition is applied to the nails affected by the fungus in the evening, a gauze bandage is applied on top and left until morning. Treatment continues until the symptoms of the pathology disappear.
- Squeeze the juice from five cloves of garlic. It should be diluted in 30 ml of boiled water. This product is used to lubricate painful nails, which must first be steamed and dried.
Hydrogen peroxide
How to quickly treat nail fungus with folk remedies? Traditional healers claim that there are methods that help to solve the disease in a very short time. This includes preparations based on hydrogen peroxide. It can be used in different ways and in different combinations:
- A mixture of several products.Dissolve 1/2 cup baking soda, quenched with vinegar, 1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide, and 1/2 cup magnesium sulfate in four glasses of water. Attach a cotton swab soaked in this mixture to the affected nail with a plaster. The bandage remains on the affected area for 10 hours. It is then replaced with a new one. Treatment continues for 10 days.
- Peroxide and vinegar.Mix equal parts peroxide and 6% vinegar. Dip your fingers in this mixture and hold until it sizzles. Then the feet are washed with warm water, and tea tree oil mixed in equal parts with petroleum jelly is applied to the dry nails. This procedure should be performed every day for one week.
Procaine-based anesthetic
Yes, this is not exactly a folk remedy, but it would be wrong not to mention it in this article. Cotton swabs are moistened with anesthetic and attached to the affected nails. Some patients claim that this simple method can get rid of fungus in just two procedures.
Herbs
How else can you treat nail fungus? Folk remedies based on herbs and medicinal plants have a disinfecting and anti-inflammatory effect.
Recipes:
- Mix equal parts of wormwood, burdock leaves and chamomile flowers. Pour a glass of boiling water over one tablespoon (tablespoon) of the mixture. After 20 minutes, when the composition cools down a little, dip your fingers in it for 15-20 minutes.
- Chamomile flowers, oak bark and calendula should be taken in equal proportions. Pour boiling water (one liter) into three tablespoons of the mixture. Let the mixture stand for half an hour. Then add a spoonful of sea salt to the broth. Put your feet in it. The procedure continues for a quarter of an hour.
- Blackberry leaves, verbena grass, horsetail, calendula flowers and oak bark in equal parts are crushed and mixed. Pour one teaspoon (teaspoon) of the mixture into boiling water (200 ml). Place the container with the herbal mixture in a water bath for a quarter of an hour. Strain, cool and moisten cotton pads with the obtained decoction. They are applied in the form of a lotion to painful nails at night.
- Gently beat the burdock leaf with a spoon to release the juice. Pieces of sheets are placed on the nail plate, the finger is bandaged and a sock is put on. The bandage should be changed every 12 hours. Continue treatment for 10 days.
- Kalanchoe and golden mustache leaves must be ground into a paste. The mass is applied to the infected surface and fixed with a bandage. In the morning, remove the bandage and wash your feet with warm water. Treatment is carried out until the symptoms disappear.
- Pour 150 ml of vodka with 10-15 g of lilac flowers. Raw materials are infused for two weeks in a dark place. Wipe the damaged nail plate with the prepared tincture twice a day for a week.
Fungi in an advanced form
If the nail is completely yellowed, does not fit tightly to the nail, crumbles, the folds of the nail are red or injured, this means that the nail fungus has advanced. Treatment of this form of pathology with folk remedies is impractical and ineffective. In this case, alternative medicine is used only as an adjunct to drug treatment.
Affected nails are washed at night with tar soap. Sprinkle salt on top and wrap with a sterile bandage. In the morning, remove the bandage and wash your feet with warm water. Repeat the procedures for at least a week.
Disease prevention
If you are an opponent of traditional medicine or for some reason you cannot buy pharmaceutical drugs, you can try to deal with the disease with folk remedies. In this case, it is necessary to treat nail fungus when the first symptoms of the disease are detected.
Prevention of this pathology is no less important. The causative agents of onychomycosis are inert to conventional disinfectants. Powders, soaps and detergents do not affect the viability of spores. In this regard, nail fungus is a dangerous disease, treatment at home is quite difficult, and preventive measures are often ineffective.
However, it is necessary to adhere to the basic preventive rules:
- Do not use other people's hygiene products. This rule must also be observed in the family circle, because, according to medical statistics, more than 60% of infection cases occur at home.
- Treat the bathroom and carpets with disinfectant solutions.
- Use a 5% chloramine solution to treat bedding and washcloths used by the patient.
- Socks or stockings should be changed daily. Fungal spores migrate to the fabric, and you can only get rid of them by cooking, which is not always possible.
- After visiting the pool, treat your nails and feet with a 40% solution of hexamethylenetetramine.
- Dry or sweaty skin is an ideal breeding ground for infections. Doctors have proven the high efficiency of boric acid, hexamethylenetetramine and talc in the fight against excessive dryness or sweating of the feet.
If the treatment of fungus with alternative medicine does not give a positive result, you should contact a doctor who knows exactly how to treat nails with the help of drugs.
Alternative treatment of nail fungus: reviews of patients and opinions of doctors
Many people claim that they managed to completely get rid of this pathology using only folk remedies, the recipes for which are given in this material. True, everyone claims that they managed to achieve a positive result, because the treatment was started after the first symptoms of the disease were detected.
Doctors are not so optimistic. They believe that treating nail fungus with folk remedies is not always safe. The fact is that many of them are quite aggressive, and doctors have repeatedly had to deal with the consequences of their uncontrolled use - burns, inflammation, etc.
Therefore, doctors recommend that if you suspect a fungus, consult a doctor, make a scraping, determine the sensitivity of the causative agent to various drugs, and then start treatment. If in your case the doctor believes that it is possible to treat nail fungus with traditional methods, he will include effective drugs as part of complex therapy.