I bet some of you lot have had some nasty fungal nails in your times!

My big toe has been infected for the last 18 months or so. I’ve tried the paint on and file off over the counter treatment which didn’t seem to touch it. Since then I’ve been trying to cut it as short as possible and file it back loads, and have been applying tea tree oil religiously. But its not going away.

How have you cured yours?!

Thanks!

Terbinafine tablets, go to doctor get a prescription take for around 90 days

It’s a long haul

Milese.

Sounds disgusting – get it sorted.

I don’t think you should be cutting your toe nails as short as possible. See a qualified person about the problem.

Currently on Trebinafine after trying all the over the counter remedies, none of which worked!

I would second (third) terbanafine (sp?). As a bonus, if you get a bit of athletes foot every now and again (fungal toes are often associated with athletes foot) it’ll absolutely nuke that too and you’ll end up with lovely feet again. If there’s such a thing…

I paid rather a lot for a laser treatment because of the bad press about the terbafine tablets.

It worked and was only 5 sessions but unfortunately it’s come back and I’m not paying again.

I’ve got one too, and did the tablets but it came back quickly. The paint on stuff irritated the surrounding toe. The whole nail fell off once and it looked like it would grow back clear, but no.

I’m considering dremeling the nail thin with a small abrasive stone, then getting some more paint on stuff but without the irritatation side effects.

I’ve used Curanail. You need to file the top of the nail thin and apply anti-fungal weekly. Keep the nail well trimmed too. Had some success. Not a fan of systemic antifungals for long periods.

I had a real nasty dose on both my right hand finger nails and toe nails that got left too long during lockdown. Was prescribed a 90 day course of Terbinafine. Had a liver function test before starting and at 30 days as it can cause damage to some people. It absolutely nuked the infection and now have all my finger nails back perfect and the last bit of the toe nail is growing out so flip flops can be worn this summer! Don’t mess around, get to the G.P.

I’m considering dremeling the nail thin with a small abrasive stone, then…..

Before getting your toolkit out and engaging in experiments on your feet have you considered seeking the advice of a chiropodist?

A chiropodist friend recommends using Vics Vaporub.

Another one on Terbinafine. Certainly does the trick. Hoping it stays gone.

GP didn’t seem wildly keen on prescribing for what was essentially cosmetic reasons, but I had read it can cause issues if you just leave it. Plus it does look pretty minging.

I tried the laser treatment last year for my toe nails. It was about 4 nails that had been problematic for approx 8/9 years.

It took 6 laser sessions to cure the problem. So far so good and now can wear flip flops again, which has been a blessing.

To me at the moment it was worth every penny. Or £80 per session.

Get one of the electric nail files off ebay, around £10, just like mini-dremels. File nail down as much as possible, then put neat bleach on the affected nail. Do that every week, and the bleach 2 or 3 times a week, and it went away for me. Obviously make sure you dont have a reaction to the bleach by testing a small area first.

Had the same, did all the usual stuff, creams, painting stuff on, sanding , tea tree oil etc….all of them did bugger all.
Went to docs, put me straight on terbinafen once they found out I’d tried everything else, also sent a nail sample away for testing.
Took about 5 or 6 months for it to completely clear because the nail had to grow out whilst at the same time the fungal infection was being treated.
Tests came back to confirm it was indeed a fungus and that I wasn’t wasting time with the medicine.
Not come back in 2 years so whatever it was is gone thank god as it was bogging and made me surprisingly self conscious.

Support runner at the celtman …. Lost 8 of 10 toe nails including both big nails….. Fungus be gone.

Mine was painful and ugly so I went to a chiropodist. She’s a lovely old dear, and she explained the fungus causes the nail to grow thick which is why she trims it, files it down and puts a bit of Savlon on the hurty bit.
I asked for remedies, she said the stuff you get from the pharmacy is as useless as it is expensive, the stuff you get on prescription can cause heart issues, but Vicks Vaporub works for some people. (See turmudgin above – no connection)

I’ve been putting a bit on the nail daily for 6 months and it works for me.

I lost the nail a few years back, but it grew bac with the fungus.

Before getting your toolkit out and engaging in experiments on your feet have you considered seeking the advice of a chiropodist?

Nah, it’s my toe and I’m pretty damn accurate with it.

electric nail files off ebay, around £10, just like mini-dremels.

Boom, there you go. I’ll just use the real deal!

I had what I assume to be athletes foot for a while,

Here’s what worked for me:

Common sense– keep feet dry at all times and washe & dry feet and change socks/shoes if you get a bit sweaty.
Fresh socks religiously every day, no exeptions, twice a day if nessesary.
Once you’ve dried your feet (immedialty after a shower, for example), powder your feet with baking powder/sodium bicarbonate.

Took a while to clear so you kinda have to build it into your routine for a few weeks.

12 years. That’s how long it took me to fix my big toe’s nail that had a fungal infection.

I eventually cured it by cutting it ever shorter, and filing it ever thinner, until I could get underneath and dig the infection out. This was not painless, nor pretty.
The cursed thing had just grown back and was looking normal when I began my chemotherapy. Two months after chemo had finished and the dammed thing lifted off the nail bed. More gritted teeth-time to remove it.

I hate that nail.

I’m one of the lucky people that gets your toe nails in the lab to try and grow your fungus. You would not believe how many we get (although, judging by this thread, I guess it’s not really surprising we get so many!) And no matter how bad yours are, I guarantee I’ve seen worse in the lab!!

I’m one of the lucky people that gets your toe nails in the lab to try and grow yourfungus

I have often wondered what the point of that is, are there really multiple species of toenail fungi and identification is necessary for the correct anti-fungal treatment?

Otherwise it’s not exactly difficult to diagnose nail fungal infections, what else on a toenail looks as gross as a fungal infection?

Weak solution of potassium permanganate (dip a wet match tail to get a similar amount as the match head) in a small sink bowl of warm water, soak for 10 mins.

Clears athletes foot and fungal nails.

Three courses of Terbinafine now and no improvement.
The most recent course saw me end up with some side effects from the meds so I stopped them.

The Vicks suggestion sounds interesting, I may give it a go.

Took me years on terbinafine on and off, but every 4-5 months or so, just as the nail was virtually grown out and good, the fungus seemed to spread to the bottom again. When GP said ‘ this is the last try ‘ I doubled down on curanail as well, putting it on slightly more often than weekly as I knew if it wasn’t working as I’d get a dull ache under my mail before the infection spread. So I learnt to treat with curanail every 5 days. My nail would lift off the bed so I cut it really really short and treated the bed with antifungal spray daily too. I also thought about reinfection and chucked out several old pairs of shoes and treated any others with antifungal spray. I kept at the curanail for several months after the nail seemed fine. I’ve been fungal free for errrr 6 -7 years I think, after having it far longer. I keep the curanail in the cupboard and if I get that ache under the nail I treat it for a couple of weeks and it seems to work for me.

I also wear good footwear pretty religiously now. Hardly ever wear trainers, only wear rubber soled boots or shoes if it’s wet out and wear full leather shoes as much as possible. My feet breathe much better and I hardly ever get athletes foot anymore either, whereas I used to keep that at bay with continual use of cream.

Oof, sounds grim folks. Is it painful ?. Only ask as had issues with my toe nail growing back since I broke my toe 18 months ago – the nail fell off after about 6 months but it’s been growing back badly, and getting infected – edge of nail keeps cutting into skin at side of nail. I’m slowly getting on top of it.

Otherwise it’s not exactly difficult to diagnose nail fungal infections, what else on a toenail looks as gross as a fungal infection?

My aunty died of skin cancer that started under a toenail and was mistake for a fungal nail infection. So the test isnt neccesarily to confirm that what looks like a fungal infection is one, but to rule out it being something else.

I think the danger of self diagnosis is thin case is the reputation that nail infections have for being difficult to treat is if you think its fungal, and its not, and treat the symptoms like you would a fungal nail infection – and the treatment dissent work. (Because its not fungal). Given you half expected it not to work you don’t then suspect anything else might be going on

Yes, as above a negative result is often as useful as a positive.

The vast majority of positive cultures are one species in particular, but very rarely it can be something unexpected which might require different treatment.

There’s also a requirement for us to report to UKHSA for epidemiology.

Compared to all the other sample types we handle, toe nails are relatively labour intensive and take a long time to return a result, which is of relatively low value in most cases.

We scrape the nail with scalpels, take a bit of that powder and soften it with KOH, then inspect down a microscope for fungal hyphae. It’s also put onto agar plates and incubated, can take 3-4 weeks to grow something and we have to manually identify it once it does, no fancy tech for that (yet.) I actually quite like doing it, it’s pretty satisfying when you get a good crumbly one. 😜

How have you cured yours?!

Got some pliers and a boxcutter and lifted the rotten part up and cut it off. Moderately painful, but a few beers took care of that. It grew back again nice and healthy. I posted some pictures on here a few years ago but there was an intensely negative reaction, no sympathy at all, just hateful comments. With hindsight, mumsnet might have been a better place to have posted them.

The vast majority of positive cultures are one species in particular, but very rarely it can be something unexpected which might require different treatment.

There’s also a requirement for us to report to UKHSA for epidemiology.

Fairy nuff. I asked because my GP once remarked that he could send off a sample for analysis but as far as he was concerned there was little point as he had no doubt what it was.

I have often wondered what the point of that is, are there really multiple species of toenail fungi and identification is necessary for the correct anti-fungal treatment?

Fungi are kinda new to science, as in they’ve never really been researched to the extent things like bacteria and viruses have.
They are not plants, or animals, they are kind of thier own biological spur in evolution.

This is a really cool documentary: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8258074/

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81183477

Thread should have had a spoiler alert for The Last Of Us?😉

Not Fungi, but this is an equally fasinating documentary:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001hqth/the-magical-world-of-moss

What about dunking your foot in a basin of really salty water?

What about dunking your foot in a basin of really salty water?

That should work, assuming you dry the foot properly afterward… like a foot-spa type thing. The salt will help kill the nasties, but moisture is also your enemy.

Try soaking your feet in a bucket of bleach. That might work.

Or shining a really bright light.

I might be getting mixed up with COVID-19 cures though.

Try soaking your feet in a bucket of bleach. That might work.

Or shining a really bright light.

I might be getting mixed up with COVID-19 cures though.

Not very helpfull…

There’s a reason saline solution (salt water) is a good mild general disinfectant to have in a first aid kit, and also the reason toilet duck bleach isn’t.

Does it kill 99.9% of germs though?