Toe Nail Fungus Cure

Medicine has been slow to find a good toe nail fungus cure, a fact that has left many people over the generations with chronic fungal infections and a long list of sworn-by but difficult home remedies to try. In recent years, pharmaceutical companies have recognized the market for a treatment that works, but in general, consumers have a deep seated distrust of these drugs - they are almost all oral medications, and they have a history of causing liver damage and other side effects. Many people are still turning to the home remedies and over the counter treatments.

The lack of attention to how to treat toe nail fungus in the past, and consumer reluctance to take a potentially harmful drug, both stem from the same reality: a fungal nail infection, though ugly, is largely a cosmetic problem. In a healthy person, a fungus infecting a nail will not spread to internal organs and is not life threatening. Medical research has not found it worth investing money in finding a toe nail fungus cure, and patients don't think it's worth sacrificing a liver to save a nail. The newer versions of antifungals are much safer than the originals were, and there is even a topical treatment available (Penlac) that can be used when the infection is not too far advanced, but distrust remains, and people seek a natural remedy that works.

The most promising over the counter preparations for a toe nail fungus cure are those that contain essential oils and extracts from plants. Fungal infections in healthy plants and animals are relatively rare: fungi do much better growing on dead and rotting organic matter. This is because living things have developed ways to prevent the fungus from getting established - in plants it is often organic compounds that are toxic to fungi. Plants know how to treat toe nail fungus because they fight off fungal invaders in the environment every day. Extracted from the plants in concentrated oils and essences, antifungal compounds can be applied topically to fungal infections in nails.

One toe nail fungus cure that is commercially extracted from a plant is tea tree oil. Tea tree oil is extracted from the stems and leaves of the Melaleuca alternafolia tree. Scientific studies of this oil have been ongoing for some time and there is little doubt that it has useful antifungal activity. Applied directly to the nail, it penetrates and kills the fungus, allowing a healthy nail to grow out. Although we may not be so sure about natural remedies with less research to back them up, those of us who are wondering how to treat toe nail fungus may have an answer in tea tree oil and other preparations that contain it.

Fungal nail infections should, of course, be properly diagnosed by a medical professional.