Products used: 1 part tea tree oil to 20 parts coconut oil AM, Kerasal Nail PM
Week 13
I am starting to enjoy walking around barefoot again! I have been keeping my feet covered my entire adult life until now. There is something about having bad nail fungus that makes you feel kind of unhealthy, and to have it finally start to clear up is such a relief.
Just another reminder… stay diligent. If you want to get rid of toenail fungus for good, you have to stick with this every single day. It’s now been 3 full months and I have missed only one treatment. I am absolutely convinced this is why people have such a hard time curing nail fungus. I think I have said before that this website has helped me tremendously in staying on track, because I have to be accountable to all of you readers that want to know whether this works or not. In any case, I recommend you take your own pictures like I do and start a diary for yourself. It will really help.
Week 14
My small toes are showing more normal pink nail, and the last bits of infected nail are working their way out. Right after I took these pictures, I clipped my nails again. If it’s yellow and you can trim it without hurting yourself, trim it. I believe that each time you trim them, you are removing a source of reinfection little by little.
Week 15
Now that it appears my nail fungus is on the way out, I’ve been reading about some additional measures people have taken to avoid reinfection that might be worth considering. A suggestion I have read is boiling all your socks for a while in a big pot. Doesn’t that sound yummy? Another is placing all your socks and shoes out on a sunny day and letting the sun’s UV rays kill the spores. This is an alternative to fancy equipment that you place in your shoes that does the same thing.
These might be good ideas, but I think it’s important to mention that the spores that cause nail fungus are absolutely everywhere. You’ll never completely rid your environment of them. Your best bet is to deprive them of what they need to survive, which is the inside of a warm, moist and dark shoe. Do not under any circumstances put your feet into a pair of socks you wore the day before, nor should you put socks on until your feet are completely dry after showering. A dry and airy environment is what your feet need to heal and stay fungus-free.
Week 16
This is the four month mark and healthy nail growth is now reaching the end of my big toenails. The second nail on my right foot appears to be completely healed, but it always been less infected than the rest. The other 5 toes were the worst, and the nails have been raised up due to a thickened nail bed. The fungus is now mostly gone on those toenails, but they are still angled weird.
Week 17
I haven’t taken an indoors picture in a while, so here is one so you can see what my toenails look like in different light. Wow! They almost look semi normal, although a little short.
I read something interesting this week regarding the supposed inefficacy of topical nail fungus treatments. Apparently, the reason they are so ineffective is due to the inability for topical treatments to penetrate the nail and kill the fungus that lives in the nail bed. However, according to this study, the nail plate is actually MORE permeable than skin. Why then the reported inefficacy? I believe that it has more to do with poor compliance than the actual efficacy of the treatment. So far this treatment has been very effective, probably because I have adhered to it faithfully.
Statistically speaking, I would throw out a guess and say that this treatment is 10 to 20% effective against nail fungus. The reason I say that is because statistically, most people don’t stick with topical nail fungus treatments. However, that doesn’t mean that YOUR chances of it working are that low. Do you see what I’m getting at?
Increase your chance of success and stick with it when others have given up.
Comments 2
Just watched your progress and I’m going through the same ordeal as we speak. I started my journey in May using tea tree oil, in August I developed dermatitis because the tree tree oil was to strong. Ultimately it killed most part of the toenail. This is where my real journey begins. I went and bought some over the counter lamisil and lotrimin; I was desperate. I started putting them on my toes in the morning and put my socks and shoes on and go to work while every evening digging the fungus out daily, I also use fungi which works as well. It’s now March about 10 months and most of it is out. I started taking the lamisil tablets as well. My fungus looked just like yours and is clearing up just like yours but mine was 5x worse than yours. My nails were curving in, especially on the sides, so I know what your going through the nails are literally dug deep inside the skin like ingrown toenails. My feet will not be right by this summer, hopefully next summer eveything is all cleared up. For the most part I think the Nai bed has to be expose so the treatment could penetrate and be removed.
Author
Yes, tea tree oil is very strong and should definitely be cut with a milder carrier oil. I picked coconut oil because it is also an antifungal. 5 times as bad as my nails? Yikes! It sounds like you are well on your way to healing. Good luck!