Toenail Fungus Tea Tree Oil Cure [Causes, Remedies & Home Treatment]

Causes of Toenail Fungus:

• The true cause of toenail fungus is that thick dystrophic and flaky toenails come before the toenail fungus even arrives.
• This is because the toenails are rubbing coming loose, or the person in question has underlying health conditions.
• Toenail fungus only infects the patient when the conditions are right.
• So fungus is living on your toenail, but it’s not what caused the toenail to get thick and ugly in the first place.
• But it is what causes the toenail to turn yellow, brown or black.

Symptoms of Toenail Fungus:

• The symptoms of toenail fungus are that the toenail is discolored.
• This can be many different colors such as yellow, brown, black, or even great.
• Most of the toenail fungus builds up underneath the nail.
• The toenail is usually loose and not attached to the underlying skin, especially the further away you get from the root.

Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca alternifolia):

• Tea tree oil is a weakly yellow colored oil.
• It is gathered from the leaves of the Melaleuca alternifolia tree native to Australia.
• It is popular as a natural compound utilized in humans as a topical antifungal and antibacterial home remedy.
• There are also claims that it works well against acne (although there is no clear scientific consensus).

Use it for Curing Toenail Fungus:

There is no doubt that tea tree oil is effective in curing fungus on the skin as demonstrated by numerous medical studies (Pubmed). The majority of the articles focus on treating athlete’s foot (Tinea Pedis) and other superficial skin fungus infections such as the scalp and ringworm.

• One study found 100% tea tree oil effective against nail fungus in killing toenail fungus.
• The study also compared it to a topical medical treatment (clomitrazole) in effectiveness.
• A followup study found that tea tree oil was less effective than medications at lower concentrations.
• This lower concentration still did kill some nail fungus, but less effectively.

Is Tea Tree Oil used to eliminate Toenail Fungus?:

• It is not really used in the medical community
• It is used more by naturopathic physicians
• It is the chief ingredient in many of the creams being sold online *These creams are not FDA approved so they do not have any proven medical components*
• Most “Natural Remedy” topicals are unregulated, so no one really checks the % of tea tree oil in them.

Recommended Criteria for using Tea Tree Oil:

Use Home Treatment or Over The Counter Medication if:

• Area of nail involvement is under 50% of the total nail surface.
• There is no ingrowing of the nails into the skin edges.
• The nail is not painful.
• The skin under and around the nail still looks normal and has not yet become thick.
• No White, yellow, orange, brown streaks in the nail exist.
• You are healthy.
• You do not have diabetes, smoke or have any other systemic problems.

Toenail Fungus Tea Tree Oil Cure Review:

• There is no doubt that Tea Tree Oil is anti-fungal, and it will get you some results.
• But how good are these results?
•  If you meet the criteria above it probably will work.
• But if you have complete nail involvement on many nails,  poor blood flow and are not very healthy- then it probably won’t work. It simply won’t penetrate the thick nail and get below it.

Tea Tree Oil Pros:

• Natural Remedy.
• Cheap and easily available.
• Simple to use.
• Effective if you are healthy and have a superficial infection.
• It will work great if you can trim and debride the toenails ahead of time.

Tea Tree Oil Cons: 

• If you have thick nails it probably won’t work.
• If you have many nails, it probably won’t work.
• If you have tried other topical medications or home treatments and they didn’t work- this probably won’t work.
• The real determination is how well you care for your toenails and health ahead of time.

***Final Effectiveness Score:  3/5***