Onychomycosis (nail fungus) is one of the most common infections on our planet. She watches for us in the bathhouse, in the pool, in the beauty salon during the pedicure procedure, on the beach and during the fitting in the shoe store. The disease develops rapidly and very soon affects not only the nail plates, but also the areas of the skin 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.
Therapy of fungal diseases in general, and onychomycosis in particular, still remains one of the most complex and not yet fully resolved medical problems. Every third inhabitant of our planet suffers from this ailment (according to WHO).
Symptoms of the disease
Not to notice this disease is impossible even in the very early stages of development. This greatly facilitates the diagnosis and allows you to start treatment of the pathology in a timely manner. First of all, the color of the nail begins to change: from pale pink it turns into yellow, brown, and sometimes black. Other symptoms typical of this disease include:
- itchy skin around the nail;
- grooves, spots or blotches on the nail plate;
- soreness;
- exfoliation of the nail;
- putrefactive odor;
- the departure of the plate from the nail bed;
- a white coating appears under the nail plate on the soft tissues.
How does infection happen?
Nail fungus is possible in people with weakened immunity and with age-related skin changes. Significantly increases the risk of catching an infection in patients suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and thyroid gland. At the first signs of infection, you should immediately consult a doctor to establish a diagnosis and start treatment. Otherwise, the infection will invade other areas. All family members of the infected person are at risk. For the period of treatment, it is necessary to abandon walking on the floor barefoot. It is necessary to strictly observe the simple hygiene rules when taking a shower (rinse the bathroom well afterwards, use a personal towel).
Is it possible to get rid of nail fungus folk remedies?
This is a very common question. Yes, in the early stages of the disease, this is not difficult. The situation is much worse with the neglected form, when the disease can seriously harm health:
- weaken immunity;
- cause an allergic reaction;
- provoke an exacerbation of chronic diseases.
Healers and healers know how to treat foot nail fungus with folk remedies. Of course, it will not be possible to quickly fix the problem (in a couple of days), but there will still be a positive result. Traditional medicine is divided into two groups:
- for internal use - teas, tinctures, decoctions;
- for external use - solutions, compresses, ointments.
With a combination of these methods, you can get rid of the disease and restore health. How is the treatment of nail fungus at home with folk remedies, we will describe further.
Celandine-based preparations
This plant is well known not only to specialists in the field of herbal medicine, but also to ordinary citizens: many in the spring saw small bushes near small houses and along roadsides covered with small yellow flowers. But not everyone knows that the plant has a disinfecting and wound healing property. They also use it to treat nail fungus. Most often, celandine is used as a tincture. Pure plant juice is also allowed.
Fresh Juice
The simplest way to use celandine is to lubricate the damaged nail plate and cuticle with the juice of a plant three times a day. Treatment lasts for a week.
Vodka tincture
Rinse and dry the celandine grass well, chop it and place it in a glass bowl. Pour the raw materials with vodka (1: 2). Close the jar tightly and put in a dark place for two weeks. Tincture is taken according to the scheme: the first three days - 3 drops, diluting them in ½ cup of water. Then, every day, the dosage is increased by 1 drop. When it reaches 20 drops, it is also gradually reduced to three.
Celandine and Calendula
How else can you cure a toenail fungus? Folk remedies, for example celandine and calendula, are very effective in combating this pathology. To a teaspoon of celandine juice, add two drops of tincture of calendula and oregano. 4 tbsp are added to the mixture. l water. The composition is applied to the affected nail plate three times a day.
Vinegar in the treatment of fungus
Healers claim that vinegar can help cure nail fungus. Folk remedies based on it can be different. Next, consider 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 impaired functioning of the heart and blood vessels, suffering from allergic reactions to this substance, and hypertension.
Egg and Vinegar
Perhaps this is the most common folk method of treating nail fungus, allowing you to get rid of the pathology quickly. For the manufacture of the drug you will need apple cider vinegar and a chicken egg, preferably homemade. Pour vinegar into a 200 ml glass jar, dip the egg in it and place in a dark place. When the egg is completely dissolved, remove the film remaining after it, transfer the resulting mixture to another glass container, add a spoonful of butter (tea) and mix thoroughly.
Spread your legs, apply the product to the affected areas, cover with a bandage several times folded over, wrap it with plastic wrap and fix it. After 12-14 hours, the nail will rise and soften. It must be cut with pre-sanitized scissors. The procedures are repeated until the symptoms of the disease disappear.
Ointment
Mix one part of glycerin, dimethyl phthalate, 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 carry out the procedure before bedtime.
Foot baths
In water, heated to 50 ° C, add vinegar (200 ml). Its level should reach the ankles. In this solution, legs soar for a quarter of an hour. The procedure is carried out three times a week.
Iodine use
Many are interested in how to quickly treat foot nail fungus with folk remedies. At the beginning of the article, we talked about how to achieve a positive result only at the initial stage of the disease. Onychomycosis can be treated using ordinary iodine. This is an affordable, but painful procedure, which is preferably carried out on weekends.
Steam well and dry your feet. Lubricate the infected nail plates with iodine, bury it in the cracks until it stops absorbing. After a while, you will feel a strong burning sensation that should be endured. If the discomfort is unbearable, lower your legs into a basin of cold water. At the beginning of the disease, one procedure is enough to cure.
Baking soda
In the treatment of onychomycosis, folk methods are often used. How to treat nail fungus with soda? The powder is used for warm baths at the rate of: three liters of water two tablespoons (tablespoons). To make the procedure more effective, add half a spoonful of (tea) laundry soap, grated. The procedure lasts at least a quarter of an hour. Upon completion, the legs should not be wiped: let them dry naturally. Then you need to wear cotton socks. For a complete cure, such procedures should be carried out after three days for a month.
Essential oils
Many people say that if the ailment is started, it is quite difficult to cure the toenail fungus with folk remedies. Healers believe that essential oils do a good job of this. They are compared in terms of exposure to expensive antifungal medications. In addition to the antifungal effect, oils have numerous beneficial properties:
- purifying;
- regenerative;
- anti-inflammatory;
- bactericidal.
Essential oils not only destroy the cells of the fungus, but also restore the normal state of the nail plate. These funds for the treatment of nail fungus are used in various procedures:
- Compresses Heat tea tree oil to 30 ° C and dilute it with two tablespoons (teaspoon) of warm water. In the resulting composition, moisten a cotton pad and fix it for an hour on the nail plate. After the procedure, it will become soft and elastic, which will allow you to trim it.
- Baths. Pour three liters of hot water into the basin, add ylang-ylang essential oil, add rosemary or lavender (10 drops). Dip the 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 pure form. In the absence of allergic reactions to oil, it can be used to lubricate a nail plate that was previously steamed in hot water with 72% laundry soap. Dip a cotton swab in the oil and lubricate the affected nails. It should not be washed off.
Propolis tincture
There are many popular methods for treating nail fungus. A universal and safe tool is propolis, or rather, its alcohol tincture. The drug has fungicidal, wound healing and bacteriostatic properties.
With onychomycosis, propolis does not allow the pathogen to multiply. Judging by the reviews, itching and inflammation disappear after a few procedures. A gradually affected nail is replaced by a healthy one. There are several ways to treat pathology with propolis:
- On the affected nail, previously steamed in a solution of potassium permanganate, a piece of propolis is applied for half an hour. The procedure should be carried out for a month twice a day.
- Moisten a cotton pad with an alcohol solution (20%) of propolis and attach it to the nail plate, covering with cotton wool on top. At the end of the procedure, bandage your finger. The bandage can be removed after 24 hours and the softened nail can be removed.
Tea mushroom
The healing properties of this unique product are used in the treatment of many infectious diseases. You can also treat nail fungus with this folk remedy. Use it as follows:
- separate a thin layer from the mushroom, soak for an hour in water, then attach a piece to each affected nail;
- cover the compress with plastic wrap and put on a woolen sock;
- leave the compress overnight.
The procedure, during which burning and itching can be felt, is repeated once every two days until the symptoms of the disease disappear.
Garlic
Many patients are interested in what folk remedies can treat nail fungus. Many of the remedies are always in every home. For example, garlic, which is no less effective than special antifungal drugs.
- Pour a clove of garlic in a glass of apple cider vinegar in a glass bowl with a lid and place 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 the morning. Treatment continues until the symptoms of the pathology disappear.
- From five cloves of garlic, it is necessary to squeeze the juice. It should be diluted in 30 ml of boiled water. This tool lubricates diseased nails, which must first be steamed and dried.
Hydrogen peroxide
How folk remedies quickly treat nail fungus? Traditional healers argue that there are methods that help in a very short time to get rid of the disease. These include preparations based on hydrogen peroxide. It can be used in many ways and in various combinations:
- A mixture of several means. Dissolve in 1/2 cup of water 1/2 cup of soda, quenched with vinegar, 1/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide and 1/2 cup of magnesium sulfate. Fix a cotton swab moistened in this composition on the affected nail with a patch. The dressing remains on the affected area for 10 hours. Then it is changed to a new one. Treatment continues for 10 days.
- Peroxide and Vinegar In equal parts, mix peroxide and 6% vinegar. Fingers are immersed in this mixture and held while it sizzles. Then the feet are washed with warm water, and tea tree oil mixed in equal parts with petroleum jelly is applied to dry nails. Every day for a week should carry out such a procedure.
Novocaine
Yes, this is not quite a folk remedy, but it would be wrong to not mention it in the framework of this article. Wet cotton swabs are moistened with novocaine and fixed on sore nails. Some patients claim that in such a simple way you can get rid of the fungus in just two procedures.
Herbs
Still how can one treat nail fungus? Folk remedies based on herbs and medicinal plants have a disinfectant and anti-inflammatory effect.
Recipes:
- Mix in equal parts leaves of wormwood, burdock and chamomile flowers. Pour one spoonful (tablespoon) of the collection with a glass of boiling water. After 20 minutes, when the composition has cooled slightly, immerse your fingers in it for 15-20 minutes.
- Chamomile flowers, oak bark and calendula should be taken in equal proportions. Three spoons of the collection pour boiling water (one liter). Let the composition brew for half an hour. Then a tablespoon of sea salt should be added to the broth. Lower your legs into it. The procedure continues for a quarter of an hour.
- Blackberry leaves, verbena grass, horsetail, calendula flowers and oak bark are chopped and mixed in equal parts. Pour boiling water (200 ml) in one spoon (tea) of collection. Send a container of herbal mixture for a quarter of an hour in a water bath. Strain, cool and moisten the cotton pads with the resulting broth. They are in the form of lotions applied to sore nails at night.
- Beat the burdock leaf carefully with a spoon so that the juice comes out on it. Pieces of the sheet are applied to the nail plate, bandage the finger and put on the sock. The dressing should be changed every 12 hours. Continue treatment for 10 days.
- The leaves of Kalanchoe and the golden mustache must be ground to a mushy state. The mass is applied to the infected surface and fixed with a bandage. In the morning, you must remove the bandage and rinse your feet with warm water. Treatment is carried out until the symptoms disappear.
- Pour 150 ml of vodka 10-15 g of lilac flowers. The raw material is infused for two weeks in a dark place. The finished tincture is rubbed twice a day with the damaged nail plate for a week.
Fungus in a neglected form
If the nail is completely yellowed, does not fit snugly on the nail bed, crumbles, the nail rolls are red, sore - this means that the nail fungus is running. To treat such a form of pathology with folk remedies is inexpedient and ineffective. In this case, alternative medicine is used only as additional for medical treatment.
Affected nails are washed with tar soap for the night. Sprinkle salt on top and bandage with a sterile bandage. In the morning, remove the bandage and wash your feet with warm water. Repeat the procedure for at least a week.
Disease prevention
If you are an opponent of traditional medicine or for some reason cannot buy pharmacy drugs, you can try to cope with the disease with folk remedies. In this case, it is necessary to treat the nail fungus when identifying the very first symptoms of the disease.
No less important is the prevention of this pathology. The causative agents of onychomycosis to conventional disinfectants are inert. Powders, soaps, detergents do not affect the viability of spores. In this regard, nail fungus is a dangerous disease, its treatment at home is quite difficult, and preventive measures are often ineffective.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to observe elementary preventive rules:
- Do not use other people's hygiene items. This rule must be observed in the family, because, judging by medical statistics, more than 60% of infections occur at home.
- Treat the bathroom with disinfectant solutions and process the mats.
- Using a 5% solution of chloramine, treat bedding and washcloths that the patient uses.
- Daily need to change stockings or socks. The spores of the fungus are transferred to the tissue, and getting rid of them will be possible only by boiling, and this is not always possible.
- After visiting the pool, treat your nails and feet with 40% urotropine.
- Dry or sweaty skin is an ideal place to breed infection. Doctors have proven the high effectiveness of boric acid, urotropin, talcum powder, helping to cope with excessive dryness or sweating of the legs.
If the treatment of the fungus with alternative medicine does not give a positive result, you should consult a doctor who knows exactly how to cure your nails with medications.
Alternative treatment of nail fungus: patient reviews and doctors opinion
Many people claim that they managed to completely get rid of this pathology using only folk remedies, the recipes of which are given in this material. True, all of them claim that they managed to achieve a positive result, because 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 more than once had to deal with the consequences of their uncontrolled use - burns, inflammation, etc.
Therefore, doctors recommend that if a fungus is suspected, consult a doctor, make a scraping, identify the susceptibility of the pathogen to various drugs, and then begin treatment. If in your case the doctor considers it possible to treat nail fungus with alternative methods, he will include effective drugs in the complex therapy.