Toenail Fungus Cure

For those who suffer from nail infections, finding a permanent toenail fungus cure is often a desperate wish. This is because nail infections are extraordinarily resilient and difficult to treat, often seeming to disappear for a while, only to reappear again.

Your nails serve many important roles, including protecting and supporting the tissues in your fingers and toes. Your nails, both toenails and fingernails also serve as a useful indicator of your state of health – a doctor can quickly detect any underlying medical condition, such as heart disease, lung disease or diabetes merely from looking at your nails. So they need to be examined regularly and generally taken very good care of.

It wasn't such a long time ago that getting rid of nail fungus, aka onychomycosis, was an uphill task. To some extent it still is, though the options available to one are much more and far more effective.

However the first thing you need to do is to see a specialist to make sure that it is truly a fungal infection you are dealing with before any treatment starts. A lot of other disorders [Psoriasis, contact dermatitis, and some bacterial infections] cause nail problems that look just like nail fungus, so you need your doctor to verify if it is indeed a fungal infection by examining scrapings from your nails and submitting these samples to a lab to be cultured.

The moment the initial diagnosis is confirmed, a regime of treatment can be started, and the level of the infection, alongside time and personal lifestyle factors, will determine the option chosen.

Oral medicines for nail fungus infections
The first treatment option is usually to take an oral prescription anti-fungal medication. The most common of these are, and which have been used for many years, are griseofulvin and fluconazole. The advantage of these drugs is that since they have been used for many years their safety is well documented. However, these medications are only effective against a few species of fungus so their effectiveness is limited. One other thing is, the treatment regime for fluconazole is quite long, usually taking between 6 to 9 months.

Terbinafine and itaconazole are also proven to be effective against nail fungus and they are much more effective than fluconazole and griseofulvin. Terbinafine is taken daily for three months. This medication is well tolerated with no reported interactions with other medications or significant adverse side-effects.

Terbinafine is also taken daily and seems to be well tolerated with no major side effects or unwanted interactions with other drugs.

Topical medications
There are also some medications e.g. a nail polish solution, available for direct application to the affected nails but they are not as effective, and can take up to 12 months.

The surgical option
The most drastic solution for nail fungus infection is probably surgery, but most doctors are reluctant to prescribe it because it is quite painful could disfigure permanently. Still, if the infection is resistant to medications, or if prescription medications are not possible for you, surgery might be the last resort.

Alternative or “natural” treatments
There also exist various home remedies and treatments available for those who prefer such. The health community does not endorse most of these treatments, though lots of people swear by them. Examples are Tea tree Oil, vinegar, lemon juice and so on.

At the end, the important thing to remember is that whatever treatment method you chose, it most likely will take some months to eradicate the fungus but with the right treatment, you should be able to get rid of even the most severe nail fungus infections.