Foot fungus is a disease, the signs of which are seen in about 20% of people. Mycosis is easy to get from walking barefoot on the floor of a wet swimming pool or sports locker room, but it is not that easy to cure. You should start therapy quickly, with the appearance of the first symptoms. To do this, use any folk remedy for foot fungus in combination with the medications prescribed by your doctor.
How to get rid of foot fungus with home remedies.
There are many ways to eliminate foot fungus with home remedies. The most famous are birch tar, garlic and onion, soda and salt, celandine and vinegar. All of them can alleviate the condition with onychomycosis and, with regular use, help heal.
Birch tar
A well-known folk remedy for foot fungus. Tar contains up to 15% tannins, phenols, alkaloids, essential oils, and a small amount of carcinogens. It is not known when tar was first used medicinally, but traditional medicine has long known how to treat mushrooms using this slimy and pungent birch distillation product.
When applied to the feet, tar works on several problems at once. It will soften the keratinized areas, relieve inflammation, and create unfavorable conditions for infection.
The simplest folk remedy based on it is tar soap. It is suitable for different procedures:
- Soap paste lotions. Rub the soap powder, dilute with water to a semi-liquid consistency, apply to affected legs, fix with a plaster and leave for 3 hours.
- Spa. Rub in soap, measure 3 tbsp. l. Fill a bowl with hot water and dilute the soap powder. Steam your legs for a quarter of an hour.
- Rubbing. Grind some tar soap into powder, measure 1 teaspoon. Add 2 tablespoons. l. water and 1 tsp. soda. Apply the mixture on the toenail affected by the fungus before going to bed, rinse the rest in the morning. Repeat every day.
If there is no soap, but there is pure tar, an ointment can be made from it. According to the popular recipe, you can take badger fat or any neutral cream as a base. Equal parts of base and tar are mixed and used to lubricate the affected areas of the legs. After two hours, rinse the skin to remove excess ointment.
You can enhance the popular recipe with powdered sulfur. Take 2 parts tar, 1 part sulfur, 1 part cream or badger fat. The composition must be heated and mixed well. Apply the finished ointment to the toenails and cover them with a plaster.
Antifungal vegetables: garlic and onion
Onions and garlic are the most effective foods for yeast infections. They cleanse the skin, strengthen the body's immune defenses, and work very well together. In folk medicine, they are used for a wide range of diseases.
Garlic is rich in phytoncides, allicin (a substance with a strong fungicidal effect), essential oils. Onions are rich in phytoncides and essential oils, flavonoids.
For foot fungus, apply the vegetables externally alone or in a mixture:
- Garlic juiceGrind your teeth, squeeze the juice and apply it to your feet twice a day with any applicator, but not with your fingers.
- Onion and garlic juice. Chop 4 cloves of garlic, pour over 1 tbsp. l. Onion juice Apply and keep the composition on the feet with a compress or bandage for half an hour.
- Onion compresses. Chop the onion, mix with petroleum jelly in equal proportions. Apply to the skin of the legs daily over a course of 10-15 days.
- Garlic appliques. There is no time to squeeze out the garlic juice, just cut a clove in half, sprinkle with salt, and rub the affected skin in halves.
- Garlic lotion. Prepare the garlic porridge and squeeze the juice. Mix 1 part juice with 1 part water and 1 part isopropyl alcohol. Apply the resulting lotion on the affected area of your legs.
Essential oils
In recipes recommended by folk medicine for foot fungus, various essential oils are often mentioned: clove, cinnamon, thyme, cassia oil, geranium, oregano, and lemongrass.
But the most in demand is tea tree essential oil. It is a powerful antiseptic of high concentration. Use with care so as not to cause burns, redness or skin irritation.
There are several versions of the use of folk remedies: you can rub with pure oil, or you can dissolve it in baths.
To prepare a healing bath, use the following proportions: 1 liter of water, 1 tsp. soda, 1 tbsp. l. salt, 15 drops of oil, 1 tbsp. l. Dear. If you need more mixing, multiply the amount of all the components. Baths are carried out for 20 minutes, every day without interruption in a course of 1-3 months.
Herbs for baths
Herbal baths are gentle home remedies for foot fungus. Just make sure you don't have an allergic reaction to the plants that make up the composition.
A simple popular recipe includes burdock leaves, yarrow, plantain, and wormwood. Mix the herbs in equal proportions, for example, 2 tablespoons. l. Pour boiling water over the raw material, wait until it cools down a bit, fill the basin with broth and dip your feet. After a few days of daily steaming, the condition will improve.
A good effect is given by a decoction of oak bark. Prepare it at the rate of 4 tablespoons. l. dry raw materials per 1 liter of water. Add 2 drops of peppermint essential oil and 10 drops of tea tree oil, stir and cool. After an hour, combine the broth, 3 liters of hot water, and 2 tablespoons. l. soda. You can keep your feet in that mixture for 30 minutes. Make time for this in your daily schedule. The course usually lasts 2 weeks.
Soda and salt
Popular salt and soda recipes are extremely easy to prepare. Take a basin for baths, pour hot water, add a couple of tablespoons of baking soda and the same amount of salt (regular, marine or iodized), stir. If you have non-iodized salt, add a few drops of iodine. Steam your feet every day until symptoms disappear.
Baking soda is good for foot compresses. Prepare a liter of water, a teaspoon of baking soda, soak the socks, squeeze a little. They need to be worn on the feet for a long time, so put shoe covers / plastic bags on top, or just wrap your feet with cling film. Leave this compress on your feet for 2 hours. Repeat every day for 1. 5 months.
Rowan
An underrated folk remedy for treating mycoses. According to the recipe, fresh rowan leaves should be kneaded so that the juice appears and applied to the feet. It is advisable to wrap it on top with a burdock leaf, but you can do without it. Next, you need to wrap the leg with a bandage and leave the compress for a day. Then change it to cool. Be treated for 7-10 days.
Tea mushroom
Another popular recipe for foot mushrooms includes kombucha. Medusomycete contains usnic acid and yeast, which have a weak antifungal effect.
The fungus can be improved by using an infusion that is accumulated for three months.
Such a concentrated remedy will help against toenail fungus. Prepare the infusion: boil for 40 minutes and strain. Moisten a cotton ball with broth, apply and set overnight. In the morning, remove the diseased part of the nail and treat it with iodine.
Another popular recipe for treating fungus recommends cutting off a portion of the fungus, mincing it into a puree, and rubbing it on the feet and nails twice a day.
Celandine
The poisonous plant has a complex disinfecting, anti-inflammatory and soothing effect on the skin. Celandine oil is widely used in treating skin conditions and is a well-known folk remedy for nail fungus.
Treatment with celandine does not require complex manipulations. Simply steam your feet in a soda bath and lubricate the affected areas with vegetable oil.
The oil is suitable for medical compresses. To do this, apply it on a cotton swab, put it on the affected area and fix it for half an hour. Do this twice a day for 3-4 weeks.
Kalanchoe
Among the methods of treating foot fungus with home remedies, indoor aloe is often mentioned. Grind 2-3 leaves of the plant, pour boiling water and leave for 3 hours. Dip a cotton ball or gauze in the resulting solution and treat the affected area once a day. Aloe softens the skin and accelerates healing. It works best for toenail fungus.
Vinegar
Vinegar, popular in folk recipes, creates an environment that is destructive to the fungus, but can also corrode the skin on the legs. Use it carefully, in small concentrations and only if there are no ulcers or erosions:
- Soak in a wine or apple cider vinegar solution (1 part vinegar to 6 parts water) for 15 minutes every other day until healthy nails grow back.
- Soak the socks in vinegar and put on your feet overnight, repeat every day until symptoms disappear.
- Lubricate affected areas with a mixture of equal amounts of vinegar essence and carrot juice (1 tablespoon each), daily until healthy.
Use vinegar on shoes that come in contact with the affected skin on your feet. Take 70% acetic acid, moisten a swab, clean the inner surface, leave it on the shoes for 48 hours, put the shoes in a tightly closed bag. Then ventilate.
Do not forget about socks and stockings, it is better to boil them, not just wash them.
Simple medicines from the first aid kit at home.
In addition to expensive fungicidal preparations, there are many simple pharmaceutical remedies that can be used if the fungus on the legs has not yet started so badly. Knowing how to treat the fungus with such drugs, you can use the available folk remedies.
Boric acid
Antiseptic that causes the coagulation and denaturation of proteins of pathogenic microorganisms. In folk recipes, the remedy is used only locally, and best of all it helps with nail plate fungus.
Steam your feet in a baking soda and soap bath, remove rough tissue with a pumice stone, file, and trim your nails. Then apply boric alcohol to the affected areas. Repeat the procedure every day. Use a disinfectant for socks, stockings, and shoes.
Hydrogen peroxide
Peroxide can be used as compresses. According to popular recipes, it is necessary to apply a pharmaceutical preparation on gauze, apply to the affected skin for half an hour. Repeat every afternoon and morning for a week.
The peroxide will prevent the fungus from spreading to other areas.
Iodine
Even without knowing how to cure foot fungus, you most likely remember this antiseptic, familiar to everyone since childhood. This drug is used as part of the popular treatment of mycoses. It can be used to make trays and lotions.
Prepare 5 liters of water and add 3 tablespoons. l. iodine. Soak your feet in such a concentrated bath for 20 minutes, then pat them dry. Repeat every other day.
For lotions, dilute an equal amount of iodine and alcohol, dip a cotton ball in the mixture, and rub the skin on your feet. Apply at bedtime every day for 5-10 days until symptoms subside.
Iodine is not used for intolerance to this element and for any disease of the thyroid gland.
Drops with essential oils
Medication that is prescribed for colds. But it is also effective against some fungi. Those who have tried the popular method on themselves recommend applying the product daily to the affected area of the skin and nails after steaming. Substances in the composition of the drug have antiseptic properties, destroy fungi, viruses and bacteria, help in the complex treatment of mycoses on the legs.
This is not a complete list of home remedies for nail fungus treatment. But whichever you choose, be sure to consult your doctor before using it. In the case of a neglected fungus, weakened immunity and other aggravating factors, folk recipes may be ineffective. But with properly selected drug therapy, such drugs will be an excellent addition to complex treatment.