Will Lamisil Work on Toenail Fungus?

Toenail fungus is a nasty subject. Most of us who have it do as much as we can to disguise it. We wear shoes to the pool, avoid being barefoot in public, and shower with the bathroom door locked. It sounds funny, but if you suffer from toenail fungus, I'm sure you know the pain of having to hide the disease from your friends and family. And if, God forbid, it spreads to your fingernails, then you have to either resign yourself to having ugly fingers and toes, or find a cure.

This is my own, personal story.  I am sharing it in the hopes of helping others with this disease.  I developed athlete's foot in 1982 when I joined the US Navy and was stationed in close quarters with 400 other sailors and six communal showers. In those days, there were not many effective treatments for athlete's foot, and despite repeated treatments with creams and sprays, my athlete's foot fungus spread to my toenails. First my big toenails turned yellow and got thicker. Then over a period of about five years, a brown and black rot spread from the tip, down through the bed of the nail to the base. It brought with it a horrific smell whenever I attempted to clean out the dead skin and fungus under the nails. By the time I left the Navy in 1988, I had toenail fungus on eight out of ten of my toes. It was gross and I was really ashamed of it, although I played it off and didn't let anyone see it if I could avoid it. I became an expert at slipping out of my shoes and into the swimming pool in one quick motion.

For the next 10 years, by fungus spread slowly over my body. I got jock itch on a regular basis.  Creams would cure it temporarily, but it always came back.  The skin on my hands became flaky and dry. In 1992, I saw a dermatologist, who diagnosed me with exzema of the hands without even examining my feet or asking me about fungus. After three months of topical treatment, nothing changed and I essentially gave up on the treatment. Then the fungus spread into my fingernails. My little finger on my right hand lost most of its nail and other fingernails turned yellow and became brittle.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I went to another dermatologist, who diagnosed my fingernail fungus and put me on a tablet called Sporanox, which was the best treatment available in those days. I took three rounds of Sporanox over an eighteen month period. Each round consisted of one tablet per day for six weeks. At the end of those three rounds, my fingernail fungus was mostly cured. However, I still had dry, scaly skin on my hands and feet, and after one year the fungus under my toenails was unaffected. I was really disappointed, and once again I resigned myself to living with toenail fungus forever.

In 2008, the fungus infection on my hands began to get really itchy and scaly again. I decided to investigate treatment options once again. My family doctor recommended Lamisil tablets. They were expensive and carried with them some risk of liver failure, but the risk was small and I decided to go for it. I couldn't afford to buy Lamisil from my local pharmacist at nearly four dollars per pill, so I took my prescription on-line and purchased generic Terbinafine from a European pharmacy instead. I had read warnings about buying drugs from overseas, but frankly at one third the cost, I thought it was worth a try.

My Terbinafine arrived via Airmail and the packaging was from a reputable pharma company, so I thought it would be safe to try them out. I took my first round for nine weeks, and then rested for one month. In that time, I began to see some improvement at the base of my nails. Toenails grow really slowly, so it is hard to see any progress in the first three months. But the itchy, scaly skin on my hands cleared up within the first six weeks. I took another round for nine weeks, and then I waited to see what would happen. After about three months, I noticed the brown, nasty skin under my nail beds was being replaced by pink, healthy tissue. This progression continued for twelve months. At the end of that time, I had a full cure on all of my toes except the big toes on both feet. They each had a tiny corner of yellowish nail bed near the tips.  Unwilling to let the fungus get a toe-hold (pun intended), I decided to try to wipe it out forever.

I acquired another six weeks of Terbinafine from another on-line pharmacy and took it diligently. At the end of six more months my toenail fungus was completely cured! Twenty two years of suffering ended by Lamisil tablets. No more disgusting toenails, no more itchy skin, no more constant jock itch. Lamisil, or more accurately Terbinafine, worked beyond my expectations. I consider it a miracle product.

Some people who have spent a lot of money on Lamisil say that Lamisil did not work for their fungus infections. And that may be true for some, but I think a lot of people taking Lamisil just aren't doing it right. Here are some things I have learned from others and from my own experience.

1) Take your pill every day at the same time. Lamisil actually forms a barrier to fungus, and pushes it out of your skin. If you miss a dose, that barrier will get holes in it and the fungus can jump through the holes back into fresh skin. You must take Lamisil faithfully. If you miss a dose, take it right away.  If you miss a bunch of doses, you are essentially starting over.  I have read that three weeks is the minimum treatment regimen for skin fungus, and six weeks is the minimum for nail fungus.

2) Watch out for signs of liver trouble. If you have a weak liver, Lamisil can overload it and cause liver failure. Watch out for the signs of liver failure, which you can look up on WebMD or other medical website. Your doctor will probably want to test your blood periodically while you are taking Lamisil, to look at your liver enzyme count. Do this if you have any doubts at all about your liver capacity.

3) Be patient. The biggest problem with toenail fungus is that it takes one to two years for the Lamisil barrier to push the fungus out with your toenail clippings. It is a long, slow process and you won't see any results for at least the first three months, unless you also have a skin infection. That will clear up within six weeks or so.

4) Finally, be clean. Toenail fungus is really contagious and insidious. When you cut your infected toenails, clean up the clippings and sanitize the area. And when your toenails are cured, throw away all of your clippers, files, and such and buy new ones. And wash your hands. A single fungus spore under your fingernail can start a brand new infection.

I hope hearing my story has helped you. I know it is a little gross and hard to read, but I have encountered so many people suffering from toenail and fingernail fungus since I cured my infection, I just felt like I had to share these facts to get others to try the cure. Let me know about your experience if you have one. Thanks.