Fungal infection of the nail plate is an infectious disease caused by several types of harmful microorganisms. The fungus must be treated, as it causes not only deformation, but also, in the case of complications, rejection of the nail. Folk remedies for nail fungus are the safest and most effective treatment options for the disease.
Nail fungus and its symptoms
Before using folk remedies for nail fungus, you need to make sure that this is the case. Symptoms of onychomycosis do not appear immediately, but gradually. The first symptoms are almost always ignored, especially if the person has not experienced a similar problem before.
The main indicator of the disease is itching of the skin of the palms and feet, and the change in the color of the nails. If you start therapy at this stage, it will be easy to treat. In addition to itching and changes in the shade of the nail plate, fragility appears, inflammation of the areas of the fingers near the nails, as well as thickening of the skin around them.
It is important! The pathological process must be determined by a doctor, who will tell you which folk remedies to use for the treatment of mycosis.
Causes of nail fungus
There are many reasons depending on the type and location of the lesion. Nail fungus affects not only the feet, but also the hands. When one nail becomes infected, the damage spreads to the other. This disease is contagious, so it is worth familiarizing yourself with the causes of their appearance on the arms and legs.
On foot
Mycosis is a public disease because it is easy to get infected in widespread places:
- Infection can occur in the pool, sauna or bath. Harmful microorganisms remain in the shower on the floor, changing benches, rugs. High humidity is a favorite environment for the life and reproduction of pathogenic fungi.
- In the bathroom at home. Even if a person does not visit swimming pools at work or wash in a public shower, this does not protect him from infection. If there is already an infection carrier in the family, the use of a towel, washcloth and soap causes family infection. Bath mats, shower bars and an unwashed bathtub can also become a source of infection.
- In a pedicure session. Manicurists and pedicurists should sterilize their tools after each use. If these rules are ignored, the client can not only get infected with a fungus, but also get additional skin problems.
- While trying to put on shoes. Not all stores and retailers oversee the process of trying on shoes when purchasing them. When choosing a new pair, you should try it on with socks, as there is an increased chance of nail and skin problems in the form of fungus.
- Walking barefoot on the beach. Particles from the feet of infected patients remain in the sand, and a healthy person can get onychomycosis when walking barefoot.
In the hands
Before thinking about how to get rid of nail fungus using folk methods, you should familiarize yourself with the reasons for its occurrence. The palm, like the foot, does not come into contact with the causative agent of the disease as often, so the ways of infection of the nail plate on the hands will be different. The most common ones include:
- disruption of the endocrine gland, the presence of severe blood diseases that cause complications;
- increased sweating in the palms;
- long-term use of antibacterial substances or drugs against malignant tumors;
- the presence of chronic gastrointestinal diseases that weaken the body's resistance to various microorganisms;
- formation of damage during professional activity, housework;
- manicure with non-sterile tools.
How can adults and children get rid of fungus?
Depending on the form of the disease being treated, the therapy may be different. At the first manifestations on the skin of the hands or feet or on the nails of the extremities, if it is a child, you should consult a pediatrician, a therapist or a dermatologist if it is an adult.
The specialist will prescribe the necessary drugs. These include tablets and ointments. In addition, many of them recommend folk remedies against nail fungus. These methods are no less effective and help to fight the problem, even if it is an advanced version.
It is important! Therapy requires an integrated approach, because it makes it much easier to get rid of the lesion. Therefore, together with the listed methods, hardware treatment options are applied.
Recipes for folk remedies
Treatment of nail fungus with folk remedies occurs after consulting a doctor. After diagnosis and tests, the specialist takes into account the individual needs of the patient and prescribes appropriate drugs. It is not worth applying independent treatment, because not knowing some features of the disease and having an allergy to some components of the medicine or folk method will cause complications.
Vinegar essence and eggs
Vinegar and other acids destroy the microorganisms that cause the development of fungi. Therefore, vinegar essence or ordinary table 9% is used quite often in the treatment. Baths with it can help even in advanced forms. They use it to prepare baths, lotions, and ointments. The most effective remedy with this component is an ointment with butter and chicken eggs. Prepare ointment at home:
- Wash an egg and put it in a bowl so that it does not touch the walls and is not visible.
- Pour it not with vinegar, but with vinegar essence (70%).
- Put it in a dark place for a few days, during which time the crust should dissolve completely.
- Remove the film from the resulting composition, then mix with the essence.
- Add a spoonful of butter, beat.
Apply the mixture to problem areas before going to bed. Wrap it back with a bandage to improve the effect. Treat with it for at least a month and a half or until the problem is completely eliminated.
To prepare the second recipe, you will also need essence with an egg (1 tablespoon), as well as dimethyl phthalate (1 tsp). Mix all the components and leave in a cold place for 24 hours. The resulting ointment can be used before going to bed. After application, wear gloves or socks depending on the location of the lesion. After daily application of the composition, the result should be seen after 3-4 weeks.
Peroxide and vinegar
Fungal nail disease can also be treated with vinegar and peroxide. With the help of this composition, it is removed from the skin within 1 week. 3% hydrogen peroxide and the same vinegar are used for its preparation. These solutions should be mixed in equal amounts. If there is no 3% vinegar solution, it is worth diluting the 9% solution with water in a ratio of 1 to 3.
Before applying the resulting liquid, it is worth preparing the surface. Hands or feet should be washed with antibacterial soap, and nails should be cut if any. Apply the solution using a cotton pad. Remove it from the nail plate only after stopping the hissing process, which is characteristic of peroxide. After that, wash your feet and hands and lubricate the affected areas with tea tree essential oil. Although this recipe is quite effective, it will take a month for your nails to grow back.
Tea mushroom
Kombucha used to be popular and found in almost every home. Despite its current insignificance, it is an effective folk remedy in the fight against fungus. It has an antibacterial effect. The first treatment option is the mushroom itself, not the liquid. A small piece is applied to the affected area, wrapped in a bandage or plastic bag. Leave it like this until it dries or until morning. For preventive purposes, in addition to lotions, kombucha liquid itself is used. In addition to lotions, kombucha is used in other ways. To do this, you need to crush it and rub it on the affected nails or feet or hands. Do this at least twice a day.
The next option involves a three-month infusion of kombucha. The liquid in which the mushrooms swim is also used as a solution for lotions. First, it should be filtered and boiled for at least 40 minutes.
It is important! Pregnant and lactating women, those suffering from diabetes or alcoholism are not recommended to use this option, as this mushroom contains alcohol.
Treatment with laundry soap
Another home option to eliminate fungus is to use laundry soap. Although experts do not consider this option very effective, it is still used as an assistant. Laundry soap has antibacterial and antifungal properties.
It helps to soften the nail during baths, which facilitates the subsequent nail treatment process. To increase the effect, tar and vinegar are used in tandem with soap. You can speed up the healing process using the following options for using the product:
- wash your feet or hands twice a day (morning and evening) with laundry soap;
- steam your feet with a small amount of grated laundry soap for at least 20 minutes (one spoonful of soap per liter of hot water);
- soap your feet, wait 20 minutes.
After the presented manipulations, the skin and nail plates soften, which facilitates their processing.
Birch resin and tar soap
To solve cosmetic problems, birch resin and its derivatives, most often soap, are used. These include increased oiliness of the skin, the formation of comedones, and nail fungus. In the past, birch resin was used to treat skin lesions by lubricating the skin and nails. But before doing this, it is worth steaming it in soapy water or another solution. After removing the dead skin using a pumice stone, nail file or scissors, tar is applied with a cotton swab and left without a bandage for several hours.
In addition to using it in its pure form, you can prepare an ointment based on it. For this you need baby cream and tar. Mix in equal amounts. Use it by applying it to the required areas as well. Keep the ointment for 2 hours, then wash your feet (hands) in warm water.
Another way to treat a fungal infection is to create a tar ointment. To prepare it, you need badger oil or cream, sulfur powder and tar. The mixture consists of two parts resin and one part oil and sulfur. Mix all this until smooth. Heat in a water bath to facilitate the process. Apply the resulting composition to the nails and cover with a bandage.
Folk remedies for the treatment of nail fungus include the use of tar soap. You can make baths and lotions with it, as well as household items. It also has antibacterial properties. Tar soap and ointments based on it are effective products, but their significant disadvantage is a special smell, as well as some limitations.
It is important! Soaps and ointments should not be used if the patient has sensitive or dry skin or has allergic manifestations.
Iodine solution against fungi
Iodine is used to fight the spread of microorganisms on the nails and skin. Along with itching, it also helps to eliminate unpleasant odor. To get the effect of this remedy, you need to use it systematically for one to two months.
To get rid of a fungal infection, you need to take a 5% solution and apply it twice a day. With this, they make a bath and add hot water. The procedure lasts at least 15 minutes, after which hydrogen peroxide is applied to the damaged nails.
Lotions are made with iodine solution. For its preparation, you need nitrofungin with garlic juice, iodine and vinegar essence. Mix everything in equal amounts, mix and apply to the steamed area of the skin overnight. Also, with this composition, the affected areas of the nails can be easily removed.
It is important! After using files, scissors and other items to remove the lesion, it should be disinfected. This is necessary to eliminate the possibility of re-infection.
Potassium permanganate solution
The easiest way to disinfect the surface is to treat it with potassium permanganate. This product allows you to use it for both lotions and baths. The easiest way is to take a moistened cotton swab, dip it in manganese and treat the skin and nails.
- To prepare an antimicrobial bath, you need half a liter of vinegar and 10 grams of manganese. Dilute all this in 10 liters of boiled boiling water. Keep your feet or hands in this liquid for 20 minutes. Repeat the procedure until recovery occurs.
- For lotions, add half a teaspoon of liquid potassium permanganate to a glass of water. Add some lemon juice here. Moisten a napkin or cotton pad with this solution and apply it to the affected area. Put on socks after wrapping the area. Leave the lotion on for at least a quarter of an hour.
Essential oil lotions
Traditional methods of treatment are inexhaustible, and everyone can choose a more effective option for themselves. Oils, essential and otherwise, are used for a variety of purposes, but they have also proven to be an effective solution to fungal problems. Onychomycosis is eliminated using tea tree oil, lemon, eucalyptus, peppermint, thymol and pine. Also castor oil, avocado oil, coconut oil.
The first lotion solution consists of a small amount of vinegar and eucalyptus oil. Leave the composition for three days and store in a cool place after use. Lubricate the affected nail and skin with it. Use until the symptoms of the disease disappear. A mixture of two oils is not less common - tea tree and lemon. This composition will quickly restore your nails to their previous state.
It is important! The use of tea tree oil often causes darkening of the nail plate.
Baths and compresses of table or sea salt
The simplest and most effective remedy against fungi consists of sea or table salt. In addition, soda with iodine, essential oils, garlic juice, etc. For the first bath, you need to mix one liter of water, two tablespoons of salt and one glass of soda with iodine solution.
The next option requires the use of essential oils, which have a calming effect and disinfecting properties. 6 drops of oil are needed for 100 grams of salt. Chamomile, eucalyptus, juniper are suitable. Lotions are also made with salt. For the solution, you need a spoonful of sea or table salt as much as garlic juice. Dissolve all these in a glass of water. Apply to the nail plate and skin twice a day.
It is important! Sea salt baths are effective even for advanced forms of the disease.
Mummy
This pharmaceutical drug is a tool of wide application and action. Its rich composition allows to eliminate the symptoms of onychomycosis. But its significant disadvantage is that it can cause an allergic reaction. This tool has a negative effect on the reproduction of fungi by activating various processes. They allow to destroy pathogenic microorganisms without pain and unnecessary problems. This drug allows you to restore the natural process of skin regeneration, which leads to the rapid improvement of lesions on the legs and arms.
Cheap and effective tool
The best remedy for the treatment of mycosis is the one that is ideal for a particular patient. If we are talking about the initial form of the disease, then the simplest and cheapest means of therapy are suitable. These include lotions with vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and iodine solution. The best manual foot baths are when sea salt or ordinary table salt is added, as well as the same potassium or iodine permanganate.
Despite the cheapness and ease of preparation, the use of these options leads to rapid achievement of the effect. The more advanced the form, the less likely it is to eliminate the manifestations of the disease. In this case, you can not do without using medicine.
It is important! When using folk methods, the main condition is systematic use.
Reviews
After seeing the manifestations of the disease, people often do not go to the doctor for advice, they go to the forum and read the reviews of those who have already solved their problem. This option is appropriate if the patient is at least somewhat informed about the treatment.
There is a lot of information and videos on the Internet about onychomycosis and its therapy. Each of them is effective in a certain situation. If we are talking about an advanced form of the disease, the traditional treatment option will not work. Therefore, it is worth telling to stop alternative medicine before the examination by a specialist.
Prevention of nail fungus
A good way to get rid of onychomycosis is to prevent it. The fight against the disease begins with the following recommendations:
- refuse to walk barefoot on the beach;
- use rubber slippers when using baths and showers in widely used places, saunas and baths;
- try on shoes while shopping for socks;
- prefer socks made of cotton fabric;
- refuse someone else's shoes;
- do not use other people's personal hygiene products;
- keep your feet dry;
- monitor your state of health, because fungal disease manifests itself against the background of a general disorder.
It is important! It is also necessary to observe preventive measures after treatment, because after recovery, the patient's risk of relapse increases.
The result: Folk remedies for the treatment of nail plate fungus are considered effective even by experienced specialists. Therefore, it is actively used not only in the first signs of the disease, but also in advanced forms of nail fungus. Watch the video from the user: how to get rid of nail fungus fast.