Like so many other hard working taxpayers, I have really gross toenails. You know, yellow, thick, brittle, and infected. My left index toe has a nail so thick that it’s about to scrape my cojones. The advertised medical treatment is to get a prescription drug that will heal my toes and destroy my liver. I don’t want to go down that road.
I heard from a number of non-doctors, old wives, and unsupported web sites that soaking my feet in Listerine will take care of the problem. I can’t seem to find anything reliable on the efficacy of this treatment. Have there been any studies on it? Has anybody here ever tried it? Other than walking around smelling like a mint julep, could there be any possible negative effects?
I can’t see how Listerene could be a problem. Heck, you can drink the stuff. I think both Vapo-Rub and classic Listerene contain eucalyptus oil, so it may be that you need the right flavor of Listerene, otherwise you are basically soaking in alcohol.
I’ve been able to keep it under control by washing my feet with OTC Nizerol shampoo. It won’t ameliorate it completely, of course (unless you can figure out a way to scrub underneath your toenails), but it can keep the grossness factor to a minimum. It will take several months for maximum results to manifest themselves, so you have to keep at it.
Interesting link. Listerine is pretty far down on the list and doesn’t get much of a testimonial. Hell, urine is free, gets a better testimonial, and I don’t have the “Eww” factor that most people do. But it looks like Vicks is the best solution overall.
I intermittently suffer from fungal infections to my feet. First off, wash your feet every day and wear a clean pair of socks every day. Apply Daktarin ointment after washing. If you can wash your feet twice per day - once before going to bed and once on rising - and apply ointment afterwards, even better.
IIRC fungal infections love moisture, so the drier and airier your feet the better. If you can bear to wear sandals at home, then do so.
I’ve never had toenail fungus, but I dealt with some pretty severe athlete’s foot for a while, and (despite my Doctor’s assurances that I would have to live with it for the rest of my life,) managed to expunge it completely. I haven’t seen a single sign of foot fungi in over two years.
One of the early solutions I mistakenly tried (at the insistence of my dippy, naturopath worshipping ex GF,) was the bleach and water solution mentioned on the site daffyduck linked . I can’t state strongly enough: do NOT try this. Not only does it NOT work, I managed to screw up my foot pretty badly, because… well, it’s kind of disgusting, so I’ll hide it:
The bleach basically ate through my skin, leaving awful sores all over the place. The fungus, however, survived… and promptly formed over the now unprotected sores. Don’t make me draw you a picture, it was just nasty, okay?
I was already dubious of any naturopathic (aka “witch doctor”) approach, but this convinced me for certain to avoid naturopaths at all costs.
I keep my feet minty fresh these days using the following methods:
I threw away all the shoes/socks from the era when the fungi was in my life
I keep a second bar of soap and loofa in my shower which are EXCLUSIVELY for my feet. I’ve gotten military about cleaning the hell out of them every single day.
always wear clean socks. I throw my socks out and replace them whether they need it or not on a regular basis.
Never wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row. Give your shoes a chance to air out before you use them again. (If this isn’t possible for whatever reason, then put baking soda in them every night, and shake it out before you put them on again in the morning. The baking soda absorbs the moisture from the shoe, reducing the opportunity for fungi to thrive. It doesn’t work as well as just plain letting the shoe air out, though.)
Go in sandals or bare feet when possible. Air is the enemy of fungi.
My current GF tells me I’m the first guy she’s dated who’s more anal about hygene than she is. I say “Damn straight!” I’m never living with foot fungus again, period.
I too am a toenail fungus sufferer. Thanks for the links and ideas. I think I’ll just piss on my feet in the shower, use the hydrogen peroxide and magnifying glass and wear sandals throughout the spring and summer. That’s a pretty cheap way of doing it.
I too, bought the Lamisil tablets, but balked on taking them when I further researched the possible damage to the liver. “Hey, I need this liver for my beer and wine binges!”
I dust my feet with Goldbond foot powder before putting on socks & shoes. It has camphor or menthol or something… I think I can hear the little buggers screaming when I put it on. WARNING: do not get this stuff anywhere near your naughty bits. Just take my word on that.
Here’s my personal experience with toe fungus. I’m not necessarily recommending this, I just know it worked for me.
I had fungus on my right big toe for 13-14 years. It frustrated me…I tried the VapoRub, tea tree oil, some fungi-nail scrub, all kinds of stuff. Then I realized, “oh, it’s under my nail. Hmmm” Well, my nail was so thick and brittle and ugly anyway, And I was pissed off and frustrated at the stupid thing for being so ugly, so I chipped the nail off as much as I could without breaking the skin underneath. I did this slowly one day, a little at a time, so I wouldn’t injure myself. I got the nail very very thin, then applied tea tree oil and VapoRub twice a day for two months. About six months later, a spankin-new normal nail was on my toe.
Like I said, not necessarily recommending it. Take off your own toenail at your own risk.
That sort of method worked for me too.
I used a file, like a foot type scrubber file thing, and worked on the nail until it was very thin and then applied some Xynol (I think it’s spelled) twice daily whilst digging under and trimming the nail down until all the bad parts were gone.
Of course, I’ve also been known to dig out my own planters warts…