6 Natural Ways to Defeat Toenail Fungus

The showers at the local gym may have left you with an unwelcome gift: onychomycosis, otherwise known as nail fungus. Or maybe it’s a souvenir from a barefoot run or just a sign that you aren’t (yuck) changing your running socks often enough. Although it starts innocuously enough, as a white or yellow spot underneath your toenail, the nail can start to thicken and even crumble as the fungus penetrates deeper and deeper. And, while it can can appear on your fingers, the fungus is more likely to appear and persist in your toenails because of the warm, moist environment of your shoes, where these little buggers can thrive, and unfortunately, where it’s most likely to affect your running.

If you see a dermatologist, you’ll most likely get a prescription for an antifungal oral medication such as Lamisil or Sporanox, which tend to be expensive and carry side effects ranging from skin rashes to potentially toxic liver damage. “That’s not pleasant, which is why so many people look for a drug-free alternative,” says Joe Graedon, MS, a pharmacologist at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at Chapel Hill and author of The People’s Pharmacy. There are newer topical treatments, such as Kerydin, but they also require a prescription and can take up to a year to work. Here are some of Graedon’s top drug-free remedies for toenail fungus.

The article 6 Natural Ways To Deal With Nail Fungus originally appeared on Prevention.