5 Lessons From My Experience With Nail Fungus Infection

When I first developed the yellow, brittle unsightly nails that are associated with nail fungus infections, I thought I was part of a tiny minority of people unlucky enough to catch the disease.  But once I did my research and learned that they are over 40 million people in the US with a nail fungus infection, I realized that I was not alone. I also realized that I had made a number of other mistaken assumptions about the disease. So in this article I’ve summarized five things I’ve learned about the disease in the hope that this provides a shortcut for other people wishing to improve their knowledge.

1) I learned that the best way of treating the condition is by using a specialized nail treatment. I used Funginix and i’m very happy with the results. But before using Funginix I experimented with a number of so-called “home remedies” such as white wine vinegar and Listerine. None of these did anything. In fact they just gave me false hope. The vinegar treatment for example bleached my infected yellow nail making me think that I was getting rid of the problem permanently when all I was doing was masking one of the symptoms.

2) I realized that my fungus infection would go through periods of dormancy.  These coincided with the Summer where I spent more time with my feet in the open.  I also am a regular swimmer, which could also have had an impact.  But while the fungus weakened due to the changed environment (more light and exposure) the infection did not go away completely during these months.

3) I learned that the only way to beat the infection was to stick to a consistent daily application over several months. At the outset I was rather stop-and-start with the treatment and would get frustrated if I wasn’t able to see any visible signs of improvement on a daily basis. But once I was able to get into the mindset that I should only track progress monthly and that I needed to give the antifungal medication time to penetrate the mail to reach the fungus, I was able to stick to a more regular routine of treatment.

4) I learned that the more I could do to expose the fungus that was located underneath my big toenail to the treatment the quicker I would see results. So before each application I would run a nail file horizontally across the surface of my affected toenail to try and help open up the nail to treatment. I think this approach increased my progress by several weeks.

5) I learned that having ugly looking nails was more than just a cosmetic issue. I realize that I suffered from feelings of embarrassment and loss of quality of life as I turned down trips to the beach for example. The lesson I think is that even though nail fungus infections are generally painless to begin with, don’t discount the psychological effects of the disease.  Don’t ignore the infection but start treatment as soon as possible.