How To Get Rid Of Toenail Fungus/onychomycosis

Toenail fungus though not considered a serious condition or threatening ailment is of the most annoying health issues to deal with. There are two reasons for this. For starters its a very unsightly ailment that will ruin ones self confidence and keep their shoes on at the beach and even more annoying is the fact that toenail fungus treatment is a very long and tedious process. In order to fully get rid of toenail fungus you have to wait until new nail fully grows out while ensuring that the fungus does not thrive and spread. This process can easily take up to a full year to complete. Toenail fungus is very contagious and can be spread during treatment from touching the nail that is infected and then touching another nail such as another toenail or even a fingernail. If you are living with someone who has toenail fungus be very cautious about walking around barefoot in common areas. Public places like gym showers and bathrooms are top sources of contracting toenail fungus.

When it comes to treating toenail fungus you must first understand that there is no cure all remedy that works for everybody and no matter what regimen you use treatment will be long, so you must remain patient and tamper any fast expectations you may have. You have two options when it comes to treatment. You can treat the fungus either locally by applying medicine directly to the fungus or you can go the systemic route by taking oral anti-fungal medications. Local treatment comes in the form of a gel, liquid or ointment and is applied directly to the fungus on or under the nail. The benefits of this type of treatment is that you can hamper the further growth and spread of the fungus while you wait for the new nail to grow allowing you to gradually clip off the fungus. Also with this method of treatment you avoid any side effects that are associated with systemic oral medications, a major positive for going with the local route of treatment. This option is only available to those that can reach the fungus with the medicine, many times the fungus will be deep under the nail and you cannot physically put medicine directly onto it, if this is the case you must use a systemic style approach for your treatment.

Systemic treatment comes in the form of oral and fungal medications such as the drug Terbinafine. These meds must be taken daily for weeks at a time and can work pretty good but there are some consequences to going the systemic route. You run the risk of dealing with adverse side effects from long term usage of such anti-fungals. These can include nausea, headaches and even liver harm and should not be taken by people who have liver disease. If you can tolerate this type of treatment it may be your best option for severe cases of toenail fungus. A third option is to use a combination of both a systemic and local treatment, but if you are going to do this make sure you use a regimen that is designed for such treatment. Do not combine local and systemic medications yourself, for you run the risk of having adverse interactions between the drugs. See here for more on this treatment method and how to get rid of toenail fungus.