Treat Nail Fungus - Best at Home Toenail Fungus Treatments

  • 9 years ago
Fungal nail infection, medically known as onychomycosis, is much harder to treat than fungal skin infections like athlete's foot or jock itch. Orally-taken systemic drugs have potentially serious side effects including liver damage and are only available by prescription. Laser treatment is effective but expensive and often requires re-treatment to deal with the recurrence of the fungal infection.

If you are considering an over-the-counter nail fungus remedy then be prepared for a daily treatment routine that may need to be continued anywhere from three to six months for mild to moderate cases and for a year or more for severe cases where the fungus has deeply penetrated into the nail bed producing a thickened, brittle, discolored yellowish-brown nail. Google toenail fungus treatment and you will up with a plethora of products offering inflated promises at inflated prices along with rave testimonials. In reality, only a few anti-fungal agents have been found to be effective in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, the gold standard of clinical testing.

Among the best at home toenail fungus treatments are the preparations containing undecylenic acid, an anti-fungal derived from castor oil. The highest available concentration of this active ingredient in over-the-counter creams and solutions is is 25 percent. However, undecylenic does not effectively penetrate into the nail surface and requires a carrier to transport it into the nail bed below where the fungus grows.

Tea tree oil, also called Melaleuca, has been shown to be another effective topical nail fungus treatment as well as an effective carrier for undecylenic acid. When used buy itself, tree tea oil cleared up or significantly improved the infected nail in 60 percent of the case after six months of twice-daily application. However, when used sequentially with undecylenic acid, the successful treatment was over 90 percent. First, apply 25 percent undecylenic acid to clean and dry nails around

Recommended