Toenail fungus help and athletes foot

April 10, 2016 9:14 AM

Anyone tried vinegar soaks for foot fungus? Does it help? I do t know what to do anymore for foot fungus. What helped you? I heard about vinegar, baking soda, listenine and Vicks.
posted by barexamfreak to Health & Fitness (17 answers total)

IANAD, but tinea pedis can be treated with topical antifungals, and if severe, oral antifungals like fluconazole or itraconazole. Keeping the area dry and well-ventilated might help as well. If it is truly unremitting (and it sounds like you might be at that point), seeing your family doc and getting a script for an antifungal might be more effective than relying on home remedies.
posted by gemutlichkeit at 9:20 AM on April 10, 2016 [8 favorites]

I did half hour soaks daily using Bragg apple cider vinegar. For about five days in a row- half cider and half water. That was about three years ago, never had another problem. I had super thick, yellow nails on each of my big toes. I couldn't even clip them with nail cutters. The vinegar really worked for me. YMMV.
posted by the webmistress at 9:34 AM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I went through 2 rounds of Lamisil when dealing with a case of fungus a couple years back. It didn't work, so I opted to have the nails themselves removed and the nail beds burned to prevent the nails themselves from growing back. It's an extreme measure, to be sure, but it solved the problem permanently.
posted by Roger Pittman at 9:46 AM on April 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oral anti-fungals are really really bad for you. Do your research.

Vinegar definitely works. Tea tree oil works for nail fungus, apply after vinegar soaks.
posted by jbenben at 9:51 AM on April 10, 2016

Vicks worked really well for my toenail fungus. I had tried tea tree oil, which did nothing, and then read about Vicks here on Metafilter. I was skeptical but after just a few treatments, the fungus was gone! Definitely worth a try.
posted by too bad you're not me at 10:07 AM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I'd be hesitant to take oral antifungals, but topical antifungals should be okay.
posted by gemutlichkeit at 10:15 AM on April 10, 2016

Topical antifungals are your friend. Go to a doctor and get a prescription for ketoconazole or similar. Don't rely on home remedies, especially not if you'll be going anywhere you could transmit this to others, such as a locker room or hotel room or walking around your house barefoot.
posted by limeonaire at 10:21 AM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had to do a course of Sporanox and Lamisil to get my nails clear. I have Valley Fever and the anti-fungals cleared that up too,

They're harsh and you need to be under medical supervision, but for some people that's what works.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:48 AM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've been using a concoction that has helped my toenail fungus (probably came from the gym locker room floor) a lot. I combined some coconut oil, tea tree oil and The Honest Company Healing Balm, which has several anti-fungal friendly ingredients. At first it was very liquidy, after a week or so it firmed up and is easier to apply. I apply it to the affected toenails, making sure to push some under the nail and cover w/a bandaid. It's been a couple months and one of the two toenails now looks much better and I can trim it w/clippers. The other is better and I can barely trim it, where before it was so thick and awful, clippers couldn't get around it. It looks less hoof-like now too which is a plus.

I was doing this twice daily for the first month now I do it once daily. Oh, and I will NEVER go barefoot in strange places again either.
posted by RichardHenryYarbo at 11:00 AM on April 10, 2016

Selsun blue dandruff shampoo on the toenail twice a day. My mothers podiatrist mentioned it to her when she had a problem with a toenail infection that wasn't cleared up by OTC medicines & it started working within a few days. Make sure you get the sort with Selenium sulfide in it & don't let it sit on skin for more than 10 mins, but she just left it on the nail avoiding skin.
posted by wwax at 11:22 AM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

While you're at it, be sure your shoes, socks, and any other foot covering are clean - rotate through clean socks/tights (and slippers if you wear them) every day, and consider getting a shoe sanitizer for your shoes.

Use a clean towel to dry your feet every time you shower or bathe - some people like using paper towels for this purpose. Rotate your bath mats so you use a clean one every day. And disinfect your tub/shower with bleach.

This sounds like a lot of trouble, but you don't want to keep reinfecting yourself with foot fungus, which is easy to do, and will render your topical treatments (and likely your oral antifungals) futile.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:16 PM on April 10, 2016

I took lamisil and it cleared it up in 6 weeks with no side effects. I don't drink at all, so my doctor wasn't worried about my liver.
posted by Violet Hour at 3:06 PM on April 10, 2016

Anecdata: I drink (not to excess, but I do drink), and I have had to take oral antifungals twice in the last 10 years. Aside from one small episode of lightheadedness, I did not have a single issue with them. I tried pretty much every home remedy I could find, and none really worked, but the oral antifungals worked fine on both occasions.
posted by pdb at 3:47 PM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Just to be complete, did you know that there is a non-oral Rx named Kerydin?
posted by forthright at 6:58 PM on April 10, 2016

Took oral antifungals in the UK a few years back, and my lifelong disgusting toenails became normal human toenails. Personally suffered no side effects. I feel so much better about my feet now.

Most of the treatments that are placed on top of the nail seem to be reported as frustratingly ineffective, even the medicinal ones - I'm extremely sceptical of reports of miracle cures from vague feelgood curealls like tea tree oil.
posted by ominous_paws at 10:08 PM on April 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

In case you were wondering "is the treatment for 'foot fungus' really based on good scientific evidence?" It is. (First link is about oral treatments, second is about topical)
posted by treehorn+bunny at 11:57 PM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Oil of oregano (not oregano oil) helped a lot. Try to get the kind that's just oil of oregano and not oil of oregano mixed with olive oil or some other oil. It's expensive -- a tiny bottle in England is almost £25.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 2:56 AM on April 11, 2016