Currently, medicine has reached such a level that properly selected drugs can cope with any type of fungus. However, many people do not trust science and prefer to treat toenail fungus with folk remedies. And they do it wrong: uneducated treatment does not eliminate pathogens, at best, it slows down their growth a little.
If you want to use traditional medical methods at home, they should be used only as an additional treatment to complex therapy and only after consulting a doctor.
Features of the mushroom
The difficulty in treating athlete's foot is that there are several thousand species of these pathogenic organisms in the world, many of which can successfully live and thrive on human skin.Fungal spores are very persistent, penetrate the deep layers of the skin and quickly take root in the epidermis, they can be destroyed only with drugs designed for their species.Moreover, the treatment cannot be stopped until the pathogens are completely destroyed: if even a spore survives, there is a high probability of relapse.
Therefore, it is not enough to consult a doctor, you should also undergo tests that will determine the type of foot fungus. Only in this case, the doctor can prescribe the correct treatment: even effective drugs for foot fungus will be ineffective if they are designed to eliminate another type of pathogen, and the fight will last for many years.
If you detect foot fungus in time and immediately start treating foot fungus at home, these times can be significantly reduced: in this case, the fungus can be destroyed within two months. Although the disease develops quickly, it leaves time to detect and take countermeasures. Therefore, it is very important to know what symptoms to look out for that indicate the development of fungus.
Symptoms of the disease
At the initial stage, when the fungus affects only the feet and toes, peeling and redness are observed where it has managed to stop. After some time, these areas begin to itch and itch, sometimes small watery blisters may appear. These symptoms should not be ignored: you should immediately consult a doctor. With proper treatment, athlete's foot can be permanently eliminated using antifungal creams and antifungal varnishes within two months.
If the moment is missed and the disease is not treated, the next stage will be damage to the nail, the color will gradually change and eventually turn yellow, green or even black, after which it will begin to peel, split and move away from the finger. In this case, simple ointments cannot be used for treatment, and time should be devoted to the treatment of the nail plate.
This means that the nail should be cut almost to the root and the top layer of the affected plate should be removed, after which an antifungal varnish should be applied to the nail, which will penetrate the plate and begin to destroy the fungal spores. When this varnish dries, it prevents air access to the fungi, which is necessary for the normal development of pathogens.
If you miss this moment and do not start treating foot fungus in time, longitudinal or wavy lines appear on the nail plate, the nail bends and changes its shape. At this stage, the fungus is the most difficult to treat, and therefore it is necessary not only to apply creams and varnishes to the skin, but also to take pills that can cause problems in the digestive system.
Such a treatment is necessary, because the fungus not only spreads to the skin of the feet, occupying more and more new areas, but also negatively affects the work of many organs and systems by introducing its toxins into the bloodstream.
Vinegar baths
Traditional medicine can also help in the fight against the disease. But they must be used wisely, otherwise they can cause harm. Traditional methods can be effectively used when preparing the feet for treatment with drugs. First of all, this applies to baths: before applying ointment or varnish, the skin of the feet should be steamed, and the exfoliating scales should be cleaned as much as possible using pumice stone.
This will allow therapeutic agents to better penetrate the skin and have a more effective effect on the fungus. To eliminate them more effectively, many reviews recommend applying salicylic oil gel to the affected areas twice a day.
The simplest, but according to reviews, a very effective folk method is a vinegar bath: the acidic environment has a negative effect on fungal spores and they die. To use this method, the recipe says to mix a solution of 9% vinegar with very warm water in a ratio of one to eight (for men with rougher skin on their feet and thick nails, you can use three to eight), then soak your feet in the water. Steam for about ten to fifteen minutes, then start treating the skin.
To treat foot fungus at home, you can choose a different sequence: first steam your feet, cut off the damaged skin without damaging it as much as possible, and only then soak your feet in vinegar solution. At the end of the procedure, wipe your feet dry and apply medicine (ointment and varnish).
For a more effective result, you can take a bath with vinegar and celandine. To do this, pour two tablespoons of celandine with water, boil for about 15 minutes, infuse, add vinegar before steaming your feet.
Other uses of vinegar
In another way, you can use vinegar to treat athlete's foot at home. If it suddenly turns out that the ointment for the fungus has suddenly run out and there is no way to get it, you can prepare a remedy based on it. This is necessary so that the fungal spores do not feel "free" and reactivate. True, this is not a panacea, so you should buy the medicine prescribed by your doctor at the first opportunity.
To prepare a remedy for the treatment of fungus, you can use the following recipe: mix a teaspoon of vegetable oil with the same amount of vinegar, add the antifungal drug dimethyl ester of ortho-phthalic acid, mix and apply to the affected skin. After that, wrap your feet in plastic, put on clean socks, and as a result, the product should be absorbed into the skin.
You can also make a compress using another method: mix three white or one spoon of glycerin with two large spoons of vodka and the same amount of vodka with 70% vinegar. After steaming and treating your feet, soak a cotton ball in the product, apply it to the damaged skin of your feet and wrap it in polythene. Since the product is very concentrated, leave it for no more than half an hour. For the same reason, the method cannot be used in case of small cracks.
The benefits of propolis
Many claim that they can get rid of fungus at home thanks to alcohol tincture of propolis, which is considered a natural antibiotic and has fungicidal, bactericidal and bacteriostatic properties. Propolis is able to eliminate itching, stop the inflammatory process and prevent fungi from infecting healthy areas of the skin.
To prepare an alcoholic tincture, you need to mix 20 g of propolis with 80 ml of medical alcohol and infuse for a week. To treat athlete's foot with propolis, it is necessary to rub a cotton swab soaked in propolis tincture on the affected skin every day and cover it with a bandage. This should be done several times during the day.
Propolis ointment helps to get rid of fungus. To do this, melt 100 g of any fat (butter, vaseline, lard or fish oil) in a water bath, add 30 g of crushed propolis and cook with stirring for about half an hour on low heat. After steaming your feet in the evening, strain and apply to skin (more often if desired). Store in the refrigerator.
Iodine and garlic
Another effective method that helps to treat foot fungus at home is a 5% iodine solution. It can be used if for some reason antifungal varnish is not available. It is not an equivalent substitute, but it is capable of stopping and even destroying fungal spores. Therefore, it is better to buy an anti-fungal varnish at the first opportunity (only because iodine cannot harden and prevent air access to fungal spores).
To apply iodine, you need to carefully treat the affected nails once a day for two weeks.Before doing this, do not forget to treat the surface of the nail with a nail file so that the iodine has the opportunity to penetrate deeper into the plate. When using this method, it is necessary to take into account that a burning sensation is possible during the procedure.
Garlic is good against fungus. It can be used in different ways: not only applied externally to the skin, but also taken internally (it helps to strengthen the immune system). You can prepare garlic using different recipes.
A pulp compress will help treat foot fungus. To use this method, you need to chop a few cloves of garlic in a garlic press or grate them. After that, spread the paste on the nail, make sure that it does not remain on the skin, close it with two or three layers of bandage, wrap it in cellophane and put it in cotton socks. Compress garlic at night, remove it in the morning, wash your feet under running water, apply anti-fungal cream, and if necessary, apply nail polish.
If you don't want to apply an anti-fungal compress at night, you can apply the paste to your nails after steaming and cleaning them. Keep it for 10-15 minutes until it dries, do not walk during this time. Use this method two to three times a day.
You can use garlic tincture with alcohol to treat fungus. To do this, mix medical alcohol, pressed garlic juice and water in equal proportions. Leave for at least two days, treat the nails twice a day. How long it will take to treat athlete's foot with garlic depends on the timely initiation of treatment. Also, do not forget to use antifungal ointment and varnish.