- Hey this is Dr. Berry.
Let's talk for just a few minutes
about how to cure toenail fungus.
Now we know millions of people suffer from this ugly problem
and most people don't realize it,
but it can actually lead to very serious infections as well
of the toe and of the foot and even of the leg.
So toenail fungus is not only
an ugly problem we'd rather not see,
it can also be dangerous as well.
Now if you know someone who has ugly toenail fungus,
please share this with them
because you can help them so much by doing that.
You can share this right where you're at
or you can share it on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram,
you can even send an email
or a text message for your friend.
So let's talk about toenail fungus and how to cure it.
Now if you implement the strategies that I'm about to list
in this video,
you're gonna cure your toenail fungus, okay?
But you have to realize it takes a long time to do that
and the toenail fungus will come back if you don't continue.
If you don't basically make these part
of your daily strategies,
the toenail fungus can come back.
Toenail fungus usually affects older people more commonly
than it affects younger people,
but even young can be affected.
It usually affects men more than women,
but women can definitely have it too.
The toenail fungus basically
jumps on board at a place that's not very well protected
by your immune system,
but then is also very protective when it comes to a fungus
from the environment.
And so it's kind of a perfect little set up for this fungus
that we'll talk about.
So toenail fungus is caused by either dermatophytes
or yeasts or molds.
Now all those sound gross and you don't really want those,
but let me tell you first and foremost,
we all have yeast and dermatophytes and molds on our body
all the time.
Our immune system's used to that.
It just fights 'em off.
If it is strong enough and if the environment
around your tissue is normal,
than your body can just fight funguses off
like it's nothing.
And so you have bacteria, you have fungus, you have virus,
they're all over you all the time,
and if that freaks you out,
you gotta get used to that.
You gotta just come to grips with that.
You are covered, both inside and outside,
with fungus, viruses and bacteria.
It's just part of being a human being,
We can't help that,
but what we can do is make the environment so inhospitable
that they can't get under the skin or in this case,
under the nail and start doing their dirty work.
So let's talk about this.
Now fungus, we know this is mushrooms,
as a macroscopic example,
but there are thousands of different species
of microscopic fungus,
dermatophytes and yeast that can colonize the human body.
We know that fungus, like mushrooms,
love dark places, they love moist places,
and some yeasts and funguses love warm places.
And so you can think of the inside of your shoe
as the kind of perfect environment.
It's dark, it's warm, it's moist, high humidity,
so the yeast is perfectly at home right there,
and so we have to work on that.
Also, you have to remember that yeasts love sugar.
That's how we turn grape juice into wine is the yeast
eats up the sugar 'cause it loves it.
Yeast, they don't like to eat protein that much
and they don't like to eat fat that much.
They like sugar.
And so now let's talk about the strategies
to cure your toenail fungus.
And keep in mind,
this is going to take at least six months
because if you have an ugly toenail
like the one in the thumbnail,
that nail is already damaged.
You can't fix that nail.
That nail will have to grow off,
and it takes from four to seven months for the average
adult human big toenail to grow off, okay?
And so if you drop a cinder block on your toe,
it's gonna take about six months for it
to grow a complete new toenail,
and that's what we're gonna have to do.
We're gonna stop the yeast or the fungus in its tracks
and the new nail is going to have to grow out,
but the old nail that's already messed up
you'll just have to keep trimming it straight across
until it grows out, okay?
So you can't reverse the damage that's already done,
you just have to grow a new healthy nail
while keeping the fungus and the dermatophytes
and the yeast at bay.
And so here's how you're gonna do it.
Strategy number one is to fix your diet.
Did you see that coming?
Yeah, you gotta eat low carb.
You gotta eat almost no sugars, very few starches.
If you eat a carbohydrate, it needs to count.
It needs to be locked up in fiber
and full of vitamins and minerals.
You need to eat a low carb,
high healthy fat or a ketogenic diet.
That's gonna make your body much less hospitable
for all fungus, all yeast, all bacteria and all viruses.
They don't like that kind of environment,
they want a sugar filled environment.
And so you've got to move your diet,
perhaps from the standard American
or the standard UK or Canadian diet
to a low carb, high healthy fat diet
and then the viruses and the fungus just,
they won't like you as much.
You won't taste as good and so it'll make your toenail
less hospitable to them.
That's number one.
Number two, you gotta think about the toenail environments.
Where do yeast and funguses like to grow?
They like dark,
they like closets, they like humid,
they like warm, they like moist.
That is the perfect environment inside your shoe,
so you're gonna have to make it a habit,
wear your shoes when you have to,
but anytime you don't have to have your shoes on,
so the second you get home,
you're gonna take your shoes and socks off
and you're gonna go barefoot as much as you can.
That's gonna dry out that nail.
That's gonna get more light to that area,
and it's not gonna be as warm.
And so the fungus is gonna like your toenail a lot less.
Next is the sun.
This is the silver magic bullet for fungus and yeast.
Just as mushrooms, they don't love to grow in the sun.
They'd much prefer to grow under a tree
or deep in the forest.
That's where they like.
They don't like direct sunlight,
and so you seldom see a mushroom out
in direct sunlight for long,
and the fungus on your toenails is no exception.
The yeast, the fungus, the dermatophytes,
they do not like sunlight.
So if you can get five minutes a day
of sun on your toes,
that's going to help eradicate the fungus
and keep the fungal count so low that it's just not able
to get in to the toenail.
Now, so some sun five minutes a day is a big, big deal.
It's free, it's easy,
and you might get some vitamin D in the process.
Next are all the soaks that you may have seen
on other YouTube videos.
The apple cider vinegar soak, the Vicks salve.
There's actually some limited research that shows
that it probably does lower the fungal load,
and will help to cure your toenail fungus,
but it's not 100%.
None of these things are really 100%.
It takes all this together for you
to cure that toenail fungus, okay?
And so, yeah, do apple cider vinegar soak once a week.
Do the Vicks salve regimen.
They're gonna help,
but you can't do just that and nothing else.
You have to fix your diet
and you have to fix the environment of the toenail
or you're not gonna have much success with the soaks.
The next is hygiene.
Now I'm not saying your dirty.
I'm not saying your feet are stinky.
I'm just saying you need to get,
take your old toothbrush and put it in the shower.
You need a new toothbrush anyway, right?
Right, so get a new toothbrush
and put the old one in the shower.
Every time you wash your feet,
after you've soaked 'em up,
you're gonna take the toothbrush
and you're gonna scrub gently the crevices
around your toenails, okay?
Because there are microscopic particles of lint,
dead skin cells,
and maybe some dirt that get caught in there,
and if you just wash with your hands,
you're not getting all that out.
And just a quick little scoop
with the bristles of the toothbrush,
you're gonna get all that microscopic debris out of there,
which would otherwise hold moisture
and also help the fungus to hide under all that junk, right?
So use your toothbrush every time you're in the shower.
Just make that part of your daily regimen, okay?
Next is, keep your toenails trimmed neatly,
but don't trim around the corners
and don't ever dig and try to dig the fungus out.
All you're gonna do is increase your risk of an infection
and it can be quite a serious infection sometimes
or you'll get an ingrown toenail from that,
so don't do that.
Just trim them straight across, keep them neat.
And then lastly,
the last hygiene tip is
to blow dry your toes after you dry off
because if you just dry your foot off with a towel,
there's still water in the crevices, right?
There's still water under the toenail,
but if you throw a hair dryer on there
and blow dry your toes for three minutes,
it's not gonna take much time out of your day,
and it's gonna thoroughly dry those toes
before you have to put on your socks and shoes,
if you have to do that.
And so just those changes in your regimen
are gonna cost you an extra three minutes a day,
but they're gonna greatly decrease the hospitalbility,
is that a word,
of you toenails for fungus.
Your fungus just ain't gonna like it
'cause it's so clean, it's so dry,
there's so much air getting to the area.
And so now remember what I said,
even if you do all these things,
it's gonna take six months
for the old, damaged toenail to grow off
and for the new toenail to come back beautiful, okay?
And you'll have a good, normal toenail.
Now, if you do all this stuff for six months
and you still have fungus,
then you should probably go see your doc
and get some labs checked
and see what's up with your immune system.
Because if you've fixed your diet
and you're getting sun on those toes
and you're doing the soaks,
your immune system should really be stronger
because of the low carb, healthy fat diet fighting
from the inside.
And then you've fixed the outside environment,
that should fix the fungus,
and you may have an immune issue if you still have fungus
after six months of this regimen.
And so some few people
have to take the prescription medication for toenail fungus,
so let me tell you a little bit about that
in case you have to.
It's called LAMISIL, terbinafine,
and the recommendation is for you to take one pill a day
for six weeks.
Now, LAMISIL works, there's no doubt about it,
but it's very harsh on your liver.
The way I describe it to patients is
it makes your liver do lots of extra pushups every day
and your liver doesn't like doing extra pushups.
And so, if you do take it,
try to just take it for two weeks,
once a day for two weeks instead of once a day for six weeks
because if you're doing all the things I listed
in the regimen,
all you'll need is two weeks
and that'll be the end of the fungus, okay?
Then you can just keep doing the other things in the regimen
because you've made 'em part of your daily life.
They're habit now, you don't even think about 'em.
If you do have to take the LAMISIL for six solid weeks,
you need to make sure
that your doctor's checking your liver function
at the beginning,
in the middle and at the end of that therapy
because sometimes LAMISIL can be very harsh on your liver.
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This is Dr. Barry, I'll see you next time.