Can my severe toenail fungus be cured?

Nail Fungus? Listerine cured my nail fungus! This is the reason I joined Yahoo Answers.?

• I injured a toe nail (bent it back over the toe, ripping the majority of it off it's bed) and then after several months developed a white fungus which later spread to other nails. People can easily find helpful information on the web such as: fungus grows well in the high moisture enclosed space of shoes, so I'd rather tell everyone that soaking fungus in Listerine on a regular basis and periodically trim the nails back immediately following a soaking will eradicate the fungus. Initially I soaked the whole foot for too long which caused a weird, but brief tingling sensation and the skin on the bottom of my foot started a slight crack. I protected the crack with Vaseline which quickly healed and began tipping the basin in order to only soak the toes. Once/twice weekly, 20-40 minutes, seems to do the trick! Nails grow slowly, so be patient, but see weekly progress. Keep finger nail and toe nail clippers separate. Wishing you the best, -m

• Answer:

  Yes, it really does work, on most mild to moderate fungal infections. Thanks for sharing. :) It isn't the fastest way to clear a fungal infection, but it is cheap. So if this works, why complain? :) The reason it works is the thymol (thyme essential oil), which has been used as an antifungal and medicinal since at least the Roman empire, and the eucalyptol (eucalyptus essential oil), which the Australian pioneers quickly elarned was antifungal and antibacterial. A eucalyptol-based medication is currently having a patent filed on it as a natural cure for the treatment of fungal infections. BTW, most fungal indections of the feet and toenails can also be effectively cleared by soaking the foot in a solution of chlorine bleach. This is why competitive swimmers, and people who work as lifeguards in chlorinated pools don't usually get foot fungus from public pool showers. The chlorine in the pool usually kills it off! Use 1 Tbsp bleach per gallon of water. Soak affected foot for 20 minutes twice weekly. Also: Don't forget to soak your socks in boiling water for 5 minutes, and spray shoes with Lysol, to prevent re-infection! Oh, you don't need Zetaclear either! Ignore the spam. That stuff is mostly tea tree oil. Tea tree oil (essential oil of Melaleuca alternifolia) is also highly effective against fungi and can be bought in many drugstores for MUCH less than Zetaclear. And it will work just as well as that overpriced and overspammed stuff too!