The Best Toenail Fungus Treatment for the Money

When looking for the best toenail fungus treatment, various solutions are often recommended. There are tons of home remedies, over-the-counter creams prescribed by doctors, and plenty of items that can be bought and used from a store. That's great that plenty of people are offering to help, but how many of these actually work?

Topical Creams

One of the most common ways prescribed to get rid of toenail fungus is by using over-the-counter creams or ointments. These typically are known to not work very well and also take much longer to see results compared to other alternatives. It normally takes over a year to see noticeable results and even then the toenail may not be completely back to normal. This is also normally the cheapest option for treatment.

Surgery for Treatment

While most people's toenail conditions are never this severe, at times your doctor may have to recommend surgery to completely remove the toenail. During surgery, the toenail will be removed so a new one can grow in its place. A typical toenail should take around a year to fully grow back. While successful, many people don't like to get surgery for their toenail problems because the feelings afterward can be extremely painful. If you've ever ripped off a fingernail or toenail before in your lifetime, then you know this feeling all too well.

Oral Medications for Treatment

The best way to treat toe nail fungus seems to be by oral medication. I know what you're thinking: "Medication? Really? I'm not even going to put anything on my toenail?" That is correct. Medications have been known to treat fungus at a faster rate than topical creams and are completely painless. The only negatives, as with any medication, are the side effects associated with them. People can get anything from hepatitis to Steven-Johnsons Syndrome. Along with having to worry about taking the medication every day, the other downside is the cost. Without insurance, these medications could make quite the dent in your wallet. Since it may take around a year to see any major progress, this might be quite a costly endeavor.

Between all of the various options you hear about for toenail fungus treatment, it can be hard to choose which option to pursue. Your mother may tell you about an old home remedy that has been passed down for generations and your friend might tell you to just get surgery. Are these really the smartest options though? Most sources would say no. For the best treatment, it is recommended to get an over-the-counter oral prescription. While it may be costly, there is zero pain involved as there would be with surgery and most actually work, unlike foot creams and home remedies.

The Best Nail Fungus Treatment for the Money

Trying to find the right nail fungus treatment to help with your condition can be exhausting. If you don't find one that works well, you'll be wasting both time and money, which is never fun. What if instead of spending your hard earned money on medication and costly procedures, you could actually utilize items found in your own home? You actually can! Here are some of the best remedies you can create with items you most likely already have.

Tea Tree Oil as an Antiseptic

Whether or not you have tea tree oil in your home, it is extremely cheap to pick up and works as a natural fungicide and antiseptic. Want to know how to use it? First off, add undiluted tea tree oil together with a slight amount of olive oil on to your affected nail. Wait around for about 10-15 minutes and then lightly take off the mixture from your nail with an old toothbrush. By using this toothbrush, the top layer of your nail is being taken off, which is where a large portion of the fungus is located. Do this a few times a week for optimal results.

Vick's Vapor Rub

While this treatment may sound very strange to some, Vick's Vapor rub has actually been known for years to remove many people's nail fungus. Within a few days after first applying, many people noticed large amounts of improvement that they never got from store bought creams. To use Vick's Vapor Rub as a treatment, simply rub a copious amount over each affected nail and leave it overnight. Do this every night before you go to sleep and wash it off the next morning. You should see noticeable improvement.

Vinegar or Mouthwash

I know what you're thinking. Vinegar? How could that possibly help me? Well, it has actually been known to work quite well. All you have to do is simply soak your infected nails into a bowl of vinegar. Truth is, there is actually some scientific reasoning behind this method. Fungus on your nails needs a certain pH level in order to continue to grow and function. By soaking your nails in vinegar, which is highly acidic, additional growth of fungi is halted because the pH level changes. If a bowl of vinegar doesn't sound like the most favorable option for you, you could also simply take a cotton ball, dab a little bit of vinegar on it, and leave it on the nail for around 20 minutes. By doing this, the rest of the skin surrounding your nail won't lose any moisture like it would if it was soaked in a bowl of vinegar. If you don't have vinegar available on hand, mouthwash also works quite well.

As you can see, each one of these is a fantastic nail fungus treatment for the money. Each treatment hardly costs anything, is less expensive than prescription creams or medication, and should provide you with noticeable results within days!

Health and Fitness: Foot Health Article Category

I remember when I was on a trip in the Mediterranean with my family about 10 years ago. We were on a boat in a secluded bay. To get to the beach of this bay our family had to swim from the boat to shore. When my little sister got to the beach she was complaining about burning and itching on her leg.

She was stung by a jellyfish and the entire side of her leg was red and irritated. My parents, both in the medical field, immediately said, "Get someone to pee on it." Three of us siblings all looked at each other and laughed....my sister with the sting not so much.

In the end (because we were literally in the middle of nowhere and had nothing else to use) I watched my little brother humiliate my sister as she lied on the beach that day. He let loose his "miracle drug" all over her leg...and other places not even near the affected area. He definitely made good use of that once in a lifetime opportunity. Ah family memories!

Naturally my disdained little sister checked the validity online because it did nothing to ease her discomfort till we got to the boat where she took an antihistamine. When she came back with the results the humor ensued. My parents knew full well that it was a myth and chose to keep it to themselves as I'm sure I will with my children if the opportunity strikes....muahahaha.

If you think it's ridiculous....IT IS. There is no scientific evidence to support this claim. As it is with pee and Athlete's Foot. I don't understand why we are so hung up on thinking that pee is the be all end all cure to everything. Maybe it was some genius comedian that started it a very very long time ago!

It makes for hilarious stories so I'm not entirely sure if we should go on a mission to tell everyone the truth but for those few reading, it's not true. At least it's not scientifically true which is what I kind of like to operate on.

When you have itchy burning feet and think it's Athlete's Foot, go buy yourself a treatment that works and is backed by some science.

Here are the Top Ten Athlete's Foot Cure Myths:

  1. Peeing on it cures it- No

  2. Apple Cider Vinegar- Maybe....just because it kills fungus, it does not mean that it is healthy or safe. You are essentially burning the fungus away with acidity. If you can stomach the potential skin burn then go for it. Many people say it hurts or burns....not to mention the smell.

  3. Bleach- Maybe...same as above. There are many other toxic chemicals that kill fungus and mold that shouldn't have anything to do with the human body.

  4. Mouthwash- The theory is great because it is antibacterial but it is not antifungal. At least there are no claims as such and a mouthwash company would have no reason to make a product that you put in your mouth antifungal.

  5. Garlic- Yes it has been shown to have antifungal properties. If you can brave the smell go for it. Maybe soak them in beef broth too.

  6. People will put their feet in just about anything to stop an itch- Yes, when your feet are driving you insane with itch people will do about anything to get rid of it. These "things" might include stinking like garlic and withstanding the pain of soaking feet in acid.

  7. If you wear flip-flops or sandals at the pool or gym you won't get it- No, there are no guarantees about this. It will lessen the odds of contracting it but think about it this way...are flip flops going to keep your feet dry at a pool? No. The reality is that some people are just more prone to getting it than others and your best bet is to find a product that works best for you.

  8. Baking soda or powder in shoes- No, the theory here is that it will keep your feet dry and prevent getting Athlete's Foot and also create a dry environment that makes it difficult for Athlete's Foot to grow in. For most people any kind of powder in your shoes just turns into grossness when you do sweat. Even then, drying an area where Athlete's Foot is already present just delays the inevitable time when it does grow. You need to kill the fungal spores not just take away the environment they grow in.

  9. Hope- No amount of hoping will make it go away. Praying maybe. If left untreated it may spread to your nails and that is an even more difficult problem to deal with. You will be wishing you had sorted out your Athlete's Foot before it transferred to your nails.

  10. Buy an over the counter product- Maybe. The problem in this is that most companies don't advertise their research or make it available to potential customers nor explain how it works. Big pharmaceutical companies spend millions in advertising dollars marketing products that can work but also may not work very effectively. Many common creams have a 40-70% cure rate. That means 30-60% of people who buy these products are not being helped.

Plantar Fasciitis - It's A Real Pain In The Heel

Plantar fasciitis is not your common topic of conversation at a party, but when you are faced with the heel pain associated with plantar fasciitis, there is little else you can think about.

But what happens if you have had the plantar fasciitis, including the heel spur that is sometimes associated with it, and you have no more pain? Wouldn't you then think that there might be someone at the gathering that might benefit from your experience?

Ice Breakers For Starting Conversations About Plantar Fasciitis

Here are some statements that you might think about using to start an interesting dialog about plantar fasciitis heel pain.

  • Did you hear the one about the guy who went to the podiatrist because he didn't have any heel pain?
  • I'm becoming increasingly worried that there is not enough pain in my life.
  • Hey, did you hear that my heel pain took a hike?
  • Do you know what a pain plantar fasciitis is? Fortunately, mine ain't heel no more.

Heel Spurs Are Not The Same As The San Antonio Spurs

Are you familiar with the Spurs basketball team? Heel spurs are different.

But what does this have to do with beginning a conversation about your feet?

Good question. Basketball and other exercises can cause problems with ones lower extremities. One of the more common problems is spurs, not the San Antonio kind.

This can happen when you have poor foot mechanics. Excessive running or walking can cause plantar fasciitis if you don't have good shoes to correct the way your foot turns as it strikes the ground. Then, if you don't take steps (pun intended) to correct the problem that is causing the discomfort, it can lead to spurs.

Heel spurs are extremely painful.

If you have these bony outgrowths, you will be boring the other guests at the party with your whining and complaining about your pain. That is if you can even get yourself to the party because your hurt so badly.

Hope For Your Hurting Tootsies

Now, this is where the rubber meets the road. It is possible to get relief so that your conversations don't have to center around the negative suffering you are going through.

Get your feet set solidly on the ground with excellent shoes. The kind of shoes you will want are ones that have the proper support for your arches. This can be done with inserts, or great footwear, or both.

You will need to go to a specialty store, one that carries shoes for folks with your problem. Take your wallet. If you are accustomed to buying shoes at a cut rate outlet or department store, be prepared to part with a little (or a lot) more money.

Just do it! It will pay off in the end, and you will have some really pleasant things to talk about.

What Are Plantar Warts and How Do You Treat Them?

Plantar warts make themselves known when you experience foot pain when standing or walking. Upon examination of the area you will see a small lesion that looks like a small cauliflower with tiny black spots that are actually hemorrhages under the skin.

Plantar warts are caused by the highly contagious human papilloma virus. The virus causes a benign tumor. This virus can survive months without a host and you can pick it up on the soles of your feet when walking barefoot in moist public areas, such as showers or pools.

Plantar warts are actually an infection of the skin where the virus entered the outer most layer through a small crack or scrape. Some public pools, showers and walkways have chlorine sprayed on the surfaces to reduce bacteria, however if you are barefoot and walk immediately behind an infected person, you can pick up the virus.

The growth of the lesion caused by the virus often is pushed inward by your weight when walking or standing. The skins reaction is to build up more layers and harden around the lesion. This cycle of building and being pushed inward can create clusters of warts and destruction of the adjacent healthy skin. Most people report the pain when walking or standing on a plantar wart as being a 5 or 6 on a scale of 10 with 10 being the most painful.

Because the warts can start to bleed a few drops externally, can spread to both feet, and can actually make you bed-ridden if not removed, most people look for treatment as soon as possible. The treatments range from surgery to simple home remedies. These are three primary treatments and comments on how you may use them:

1. Surgical removal of warts. Having surgery should be a last resort treatment because it does not cure but only removes the calloused skin and sometimes parts of the cauliflower wart. The virus is still present in your body and an outbreak can re-occur.

Often surgery is preformed using liquid nitrogen - this is called cryosurgery and can be very painful if there are a lot of warts. The liquid nitrogen actuarial burns off the wart and adjacent healthy skin and causes the body to heal over the infected area.

2. Duct tape application. The principle of the duct tape application is to cushion the skin, keep the skin moist so eventually the wart will peel off when the sticky tape is removed. This is similar to quickly removing cotton gauze when waxing to remove unwanted hair.

Duct tape can be very bad for healthy skiing near the wart. It can cause cracks and breaks in healthy foot skin when tearing the tape off the wart. As the wart goes inward and more layers of hard skin form to protect your foot, the surface of the wart is all that is treatable with this tape-and-wait-and-rip method.

3 Salicylic acid application. It is compound that is chemically similar to the active ingredient in aspirin although it is not identical. Salicylic acid is a homeopathic anti-inflammatory solution. It works on warts by exfoliation of the skin.

Some reports indicate that the latent virus in the body become activated by the papilloma virus. This makes timeliness of treatment critical and cleanliness of feet more diligently needed. Because salicylic acid must be applied to each wart to remove the outbreak, it becomes necessary to consider grabbing a friend to help, using rubber gloves when handling the feet, and all precautions to prevent spreading the warts to others.

Bathing the feet in warm, soapy water first, then towel-drying the feet completely is necessary twice a day. Once the feet are dry, apply salicylic acid with a cotton ball or with a small brush which will dry the wart and exfoliation of the skin attacked by the virus.

The method of exfoliation works well because the dead skin associated with the virus will be attacked and the healthy adjacent skin will glow from the effort.

10 Tips to Help Prevent Athlete's Foot

Top Ten Ways to Help Prevent Athlete's Foot
(We say "help" because the only way to truly prevent it is to live in a plastic bubble.... most people are impartial to that idea.)

  1. Wear something on your feet in any public area that involves people walking in bare feet. Flip-flops, sandals, shoes, water socks, etc.

  2. Wash your feet well with soap and water after being in said areas.

  3. Don't let your feet sit wet for long periods ie. towel dry your feet over air drying them after the shower or pool.

  4. Wear clean cotton socks every day. Don't put your old socks on from the day before!

  5. If your feet sweat a lot, keep an extra pair of socks on hand to swap out mid day or as often as you need to keep your feet dry.

  6. Wash your cotton socks in HOT water.

  7. Buy shoes that "breath". Open-toed foot wear is great. Running shoes with mesh all over are good too.

  8. Place small amounts of powder in shoes specifically made to keep shoes dry and prevent Athlete's Foot.

  9. Leave shoes by a heater vent or in a sunny window. Do anything to make sure they are dry the next time you wear them.

  10. Don't share shoes with your friends!

Athlete's Foot is one of the most common foot infections in North America. Many of us have had it or will get it at some point. It's almost like catching the common cold. It's prevalent everywhere and some people are just more susceptible to it than others. Although these steps will help, they are not guaranteed. Fungal spores are small and can lay dormant for so long that it's hard to know sometimes where we even contracted the infection.

It spreads from foot to foot easily because these spores can lay dormant on the skin or the ground for a very long time. All it takes is for someone to get a splash of infected water or step on the right puddle. The spore gets caught between your toes and may stay there for days and even weeks. Once that spore is in a warm moist environment ie. your shoe, it will grow. When the spores grow your skin gets irritated and that's when you know for sure that you have Athlete's Foot.

If you are plagued with this irritating infection there are many over the counter products that should help. Find one that works for you and keep a supply on hand. Following the steps above will help speed recovery.

Followers