extreme nail fungus! please help, what to do!?? - Nail Problems Message Board

lifeisbeautyJ · 02-21-2008, 10:28 AM

well when i was younger, I would use my uncles shower and he had athletes foot. I began to get it little by little, but didnt really pay much attention to it. my nails began to turn yellow and i didnt treat them. now, my nails are hard and crusty and britter.It spread to all my toe nails! I'm so embarrased! I cant do anything. I cant go to the beach with my friends, i cant go to pool parties, i cant do anything! people tend to think that im a party pooper because i dont want to do anything that requires taking off my sock,but they dont understand how much i would love to join them. my nails are extremely bad due to lack of treatment. I can't take pills because ive been taking medication for the past year and my liver cant take it and i know the best way is oral medication, but I cant. Is there anything else? what can i do? please help. thank you.

Marti · 02-21-2008, 05:37 PM

Go to your local Sally Beauty Supply and purchase a couple of 180 grit files in the nail department. Be sure to get ones that say they can be sanitized. File down the thickness of the nails, but not so much that you remove them completely. They are thick because they are full of fungal spores and the debris. Fungus feeds on the proteins in the nail plate and need the moisture in the nail bed to survive.

After reducing the thickness, cut them back as far as you safely can. Scrape all the debris from under what remains of the nail plate. Keep this debris scraped out on a weekly basis and keep them short. You can use just about any OTC treatment for nail fungus such as Dr. G's, Lamasil cream, etc. You can use Amoresse Thymol, Vinegar (apple cider) or Vicks Vaporub. You will need to be sure to get it into the area of separation under the free edge as well as to apply it to the nail plate. Since they are already crumbling, they will absorb whatever you put on them. Apply at least twice daily and always after having your feet wet.

It can take upwards of a full year of diligent application to rid the nail bed and the nail plate of all the fungal spores.

corky21 · 02-22-2008, 05:29 PM

Years ago I got a nail fungus in my fingernails after wearing rubber gloves and cleaning too long with the gloves on. My doctor gave me a prescription type lotrimin fungus cream and he also told me to soak my nails twice a day in white vinegar. I did and the fungus went away in a few weeks.

ksf74 · 02-23-2008, 09:21 AM

Is there a difference between white vinegar and apple cider vinegar in treating nail fungus? Which is more effective?

Marti · 02-23-2008, 10:08 AM

They will both change the pH level of the underlying nail bed so the fungal spores won't want to live there.