laser - toenail fungus removal

^^^^^^ x2 on the Vicks!

Scrubbing them hard with a brush each time you bath helps too.

When I asked the doc about getting the pills, he STRONGLY recommended this option.  The pills may as well come with a liver replacement and the other options just plain take time.  Remove the nail and take care of the skin and it grows back normal.

I have yet to get mine done (I've got four funky nails), but when I do, this is the approach I'm taking.

Believe it or not.  It's not that bad.

I had a long weekend of bump skiing and turned my big toe nails black.  The new nails started to grow under them all thick and discolored and with the fungus that came with all the trauma.

It's simple process.  They shoot some local into the toe, then get a industrial nail cutter (looks like a wire cutter) and pliers and basically rip it off.  They slid a thin scredriver looking thing (VERY THIN - almost a blade) between the nail and bed to seperate it first.  (talk about bamboo under the nails torture).  I laughed when it was happening because it LOOKED like the most painful thing in the world, but I didn't feel a thing.  It makes me curl my toes thinking about it and how much is SHOULD have hurt, but it was painless.

Then basically a bandage over the exposed bed and you wear open toed shoes/sandles for a week.  The skin toughens up enough to wear shoes after that.  There is also a removal, and a permanent removal (where they take out the "engine" that makes the nail, so it can't grow back)  The doc also said that nail or no nail, or living with thick/yellow nails is all cosmetic in the long run.  We don't NEED the nails and the fungus just looks bad but won't hurt you.

The only thing I will say about that, is NOT a 100% fix.  If the fungus is deep in the bed or place where it grows, it still grows back with fungus.  It did for me on both big nails. 

Lamisil tablets were the only thing that worked for me and it's a LOT easier than getting your nails ripped out.