Treatment Approaches for Nail Fungus Infection

A long history of infections in humans and a relative lack of effective remedies have lead to a variety of treatment approaches for nail fungus infection. The infection, onychomycosis in medical language, strikes up to thirteen percent of people, often as they reach their senior years, and some authorities believe the incidence is increasing. Toenails are more often infected than fingernails, and males are more often afflicted than females.

Until quite recently, the medical profession has not paid much attention to dealing with nail fungus. Why? Because many infections are “asymptomatic,”—that is, they don’t cause inflammation, pain, disability, or illness, but are merely “cosmetic,”—treatment approaches for nail fungus infection are not high on the medical priority list. The psychological stress that comes with having ugly distorted nails is overlooked.

Sadly the modern pharmaceutical treatment approaches for nail fungus infection are not the magic bullet most people are looking for. They tend to be very expensive, they require a long treatment period, they don’t always work, and they occasionally cause serious side effects. Dealing with nail fungus the medical way is still a gamble at best. People who don’t want to go that route can choose an alternative remedy, or go with a traditional home remedy.

The disadvantage of the non-prescription treatment approaches for nail fungus infection (traditional, home, natural, or alternative remedies) is that very few have been tested in clinical trials to see if they really work—you must trust to hearsay and anecdotal evidence. (While this is discouraging, it’s important to remember that clinical trials of the prescription drugs have clearly shown that they do not work in a substantial number of cases.) Dealing with nail fungus using non-prescription methods requires trial and error, and considerable common sense.

Before staring any treatment, have onychomycosis properly diagnosed by a medical professional to rule out other nail abnormalities. When researching alternative treatment approaches for nail fungus infection, you might want to investigate vinegar, bleach, hydrogen peroxide, Vick’s Vaporub, Listerine, Saprox, clove oil and other herbal essential oils, tea tree oil, and pau d’arco.