Archive for the ‘Anti-Fungal Treatments’ Category

How often do you think I get a question, “Will bleach work for my toenail fungus?” Very often. More often than I’d like it to be.

A quick search on Google will uncover many stories about people treating themselves with bleach and miraculously getting rid of fungus within a week. A typical Toenail Rot Cure recipe would include dipping toes into undiluted bleach for 5 minutes 2-3 times a day for a week or so. Done and over with and no recurrence. Ever!

I’m happy for those who have been cured. Most likely these people (if the story is true to start with) did not suffer from nail fungus (onychomycosis). Bleach just whitened the nail, which could have been discolored for a hundred reasons – other than toenail fungus.

Any nail treatment that actually kills fungus relies on a new nail growing in and replacing the old, infected nail. Provided that the fungal spores and all dermatophyte activity has been eradicated and risks of reinfection from the patient’s immediate environment has been removed the new nail will completely grow our in 10-14 months.

On the other hand, I’ve had quite a few people come into my office with open sores caused by chemical burns on the skin from using undiluted beach that take weeks to months to heal when applied for nail fungus. The risk of all kinds of infections is very high for the people with these sores. I am strongly against the use of any chemicals on the skin, but bleach is arguably the most dangerous one.

Mark Leitner, DPM
Advanced Podiatry Associates
Brandon, FL

The Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association has selected for publication an article detailing the recently completed second clinical study involving the SteriShoe® ultraviolet shoe sanitizer.

The fact that shoes harbor microorganisms has been well established; the journal article cites three previously published studies to this effect. For this study, Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum designed a repeatable way to culture shoes and then successfully tested the ability of the SteriShoe ultraviolet shoe sanitizer to decontaminate the shoe.

The study, which involved scraping material from the shoe, showed that the SteriShoe sanitizer destroyed, on average, over 80% of the microorganisms in the shoes. Dr. Ghannoum states “these finding have implications regarding breaking the foot infection cycle.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Wow! Internet is a wonderful thing. Just got a big laugh out of it: beer soak as a homeopathic remedy for nail fungus. Wow!

I have to give these guys a credit for publishing (quite seriously) the most ridiculous treatment method to get rid of a fungal infection.

The article starts out with the standard paragraph about ugly nails and then goes on to an intriguing solution kick-off: “So if you don’t wish to take a prescription medication as recommended by a doctor, what do you do? Fortunately there is another option for folks who prefer the homeopathic approach to medicine.”

The author claims that combining a stout beer (Guiness is the best, of course) with white vinegar and acidophilus you can create a magical medicinal soak right in the comfort of your home!

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This is just a quick comment to Oils? For Fungus or Salad? published recently by By Mark Leitner, DPM (Advanced Foot & Ankle Specialists / Nail’n'Toe provider in Brandon, FL).

I recently stumbled upon an online article on Fox News where Chris Kilham, the Medicine Hunter and Fox News contributor, talks about plant-based cures available to treat health problems, including toenail fungus.

To treat toenail fungus, Kilham absolutely “swears by tamanu oil, or Calophyllum inophyllum, a tropical nut oil from the Pacific Islands. The anti-fungal properties of the oil have been well-documented in previous studies.”

“Toenail fungus responds rather brilliantly to tamanu oil,” Kilham said. “If you put the oil on the nail, it will get rid of the fungus.”

I wonder how many people actually ran to their local natural foods stores our their computers to learn more about the healing powers of this mysterious plant.

A quick research of the more reputable sources revealed that all parts of the plant ( bark, leaves, seeds) have been used medically as antiseptics, astringents, expectorants, diuretics, and purgatives. The oil possesses some antimicrobial and antiviral activity. Apparently cosmetic industry in Europe likes to add some of this oil into skin care products, such as creams and moisturizers.

Long story short: don’t get any illusions. Tamanu oil may help moisturize the skin on Athlete’s foot, but it’s unlike to cure even a mild case of toenail fungus – the fungal infection residing in the nail bed, the skin UNDER the nail plate. Onychomycosis is a disease that requires medical treatment.

Now, prevention is a different story. Tamanu oil may certainly be added to your preventive regimen – if you have the time and patience to use it daily.

Researchers at the Institute for Diabetic Foot Research in New York, studied 49 type II diabetics with distal subungual onychomycosis (DSO – the most common type of toenail fungus). The patients were treated with ciclopirox 8% topical laquer (Penlac®) once daily for 48 weeks.

Results: At the end of the study 63% of the patients achieved clinical improvement, 86% of patients had mycologic improvement and 54% attained a mycologic cure. No serious adverse advents were observed during the trial period.

Summary: This study concludes that Penlac® is a safe and effective treatment for diabetics with mild to moderate toenail fungus. Read the rest of this entry »

Provided by Nail’n'Toe Tampa, FL
(Laser treatment of fungus in Tampa Bay Florida)

Here is something that may help as part of the anti-fungal therapy – colloidal silver. Known for many useful properties silver has been used as a home remedy for centuries. It’s not a cheap solution but it may add to the standard Nail’n'Toe treatment protocol, i.e. in between the treatment sessions in doctor’s offices. We have not found any decent studies on it but stumbled upon some anecdotal evidence.

By Mark Leitner, DPM
Advanced Foot & Ankle Specialists / Nail’n'Toe provider in Brandon, FL

When it comes to toenail fungus treatment options there is nothing more amusing than listening to a new patient telling me about his/her experience in using yet another oil to treat onychomycosis. Tea tree oil is the ultimate leader. But how about olive oil, oregano oil, peppermint oil, almond oil, lemongrass essential oil? Here is a new one: jojobo oil for home therapy of nail fungus!

According to the nail fungus gurus publishing tons of sketchy articles on the Internet, the cure is simple and miraculous: put some oil of your choice into a foot bath with warm water and soak your feet for 10-15 minutes – just 5-6 times a day at your convenience and for about 6-9 months. Rub the nail with some hydrogen peroxide or alcohol each time. Occasionally sprinkle your nails with some apple cider vinegar and you are sure to be healed. Forever.

Frankly, I can’t imagine anyone taking a 20 minute break from work for a toenail fungus spa treatment 3 times a day during the work hours. But according to some of the rave reviews it works. Does it? Read the rest of this entry »

The SteriShoe^® ultraviolet shoe sanitizer is the world’s first product to safely and effectively sanitize the inside of your shoes. No chemicals that may damage your shoes! By using germicidal ultraviolet light (“UVC”), the shoe sanitizer kills microorganisms that cause athlete’s foot, nail fungus, and shoe odor.

Sold in pairs so you can treat a pair of shoes with each application. The treatment takes about 45 minutes. The germicidal lamp automatically turns off and the shoe sanitizer supports the shape of your shoes like a shoe tree.

Regular use of this device is critical to the overall success of your Nail’n'Toe course of anti-fungal treatment. It allows you to get rid of the fungus in your shoes! More about Household Decontamination and Preventive Regimen.

Patients who are undecided about when to start Nail’n'Toe are recommended to purchase and use the UV sanitizer. Save on buying it as part of a Nail’n'Toe Care Kit.

Sweat from feet (each foot sweats up to 8 oz. per day) causes shoes to become breeding grounds for the fungus and bacteria that cause toenail fungus, athlete’s foot, and odor. Treatment of toenail fungus cannot be effective if you do not sanitize your shoes. In fact, you can easily get re-infected by the residual fungi in your own shoes!

Purchase a SteriShoe® shoe sanitizer now at our Products Center.

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A new patented new molecule, silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC), is the first new antimicrobial in decades. Developed by Pure Bioscience, SDC is an electrolytically generated source of stabilized ionic silver that can serve as the basis for a new range of products that can potentially be used to increase the efficacy of topical anti-fungal medications.

Traditional silver-based disinfectants have very short shelf lives – from hours to days. SDC is a stabilized silver ion complex with a shelf life of several years. The unique bond of the silver ion in SDC allows the silver ion to remain in solution while at the same time making it more bio-available for antimicrobial action.

SDC kills microorganisms by two modes of action: 1) the silver ion deactivates structural and metabolic membrane proteins leading to microbial death; 2) the microbes view SDC as a food source, allowing the silver ion to enter the microbe. Once inside the organism, the silver ion denatures the DNA, which halts the microbe’s ability to replicate and leads to its death. This dual action makes SDC highly and quickly effective against a broad spectrum of microbes, including fungi.

While SDC is highly toxic to bacteria, fungus and virus it is non-toxic to humans and animals. Based on the EPA toxicity categorization of antimicrobial products that ranges from Category I (high toxicity) down to Category IV, at use dilutions, SDC is rated in the lowest toxicity category IV, which makes the molecule very attractive for the development of complex anti-fungal products.

Terbinafine is perceived to be the best anti-fungal agent. Although the drug is demonstrably the most effective agent in dermatophyte onychomycosis a consistent failure rate of 30–40% is found in most studies. If the most obvious causes of treatment failure, notably poor compliance, poor absorption, imunosuppression, dermatophyte resistance and zero nail growth are excluded, the commonest cause of failure is likely to be a condition known as Subungual dermatophytoma. It is a tightly packed mass of fungus, which prevents penetration of the drug in adequate concentrations.

Patient previously treated with oral terbinafine remain susceptible to new fungal infections for an indefinite period of time. It is very frustrating for these patients to see the fungus relapse after a temporary clearance of the nails. Most of them will be reluctant to take the toxic medication again, and for obvious reasons.

The truth is: none of the monotherapies, including oral medication, the most effective one in the traditional medicine, will work against fungus. A comprehensive and long term treatment and preventive program is required to succeed in destroying fungus and keeping dermatophytes away.