Cycle your shoes

No matter what sort of shoes you wear to work, whether it be fine leather dress shoes or beat up old sneakers, try to have more than one pair that you wear so that you give each your shoes time to dry out. Wet or even damn shoes become fertile breeding grounds for bacteria and fungus. If your shoes aren’t drying out, try washing them and drying them to clean them out or coat them in anti bacterial and anti fungal spray. You can’t expect your feet to stay fungus free in an environment that grows fungus.

Change sock types if you sweat too much

Toenail fungus will grow much easier in places that are damp on a regular basis, so it is up to you to monitor how much your feet sweat during the day. If you notice that your toes are damp or that your foot odour is worse than usual, consider changing the types of socks you wear. There are many different styles, materials and thicknesses to choose from, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t pick the right one the first time. Toenail fungus is looking for any opportunity to get ahead, so be sure that you don’t allow it any kind of advantage.

Avoid leather footwear that doesn’t breathe

You also need to take a look at the footwear that you have. Some fabrics, including some expensive leather shoes, don’t breathe very well and can encourage foot odour, wetness and eve fungus. When you purchase your shoes, ask about the particular fabric and how air flow works with that particular shoe. Most people can’t afford to go out and buy new shoes to reduce the likelihood of fingernail fungus, but if you are serious about staying ahead of this epidemic, you may have to. Just like any other part of your body, your feet must breathe and it is up to you to provide an environment that encourages this.

Vitamins

Our body is only as healthy as our immune system is, and sometimes, we just don’t have the time to make ourselves a healthy meal. If this sounds like your circumstance, you may want to consider starting a regimen of vitamins. A healthy immune system can detect the presence of fungus and fight back against an infection sooner which could help to keep your feet fungus free longer. A weak immune system may not have the power to fight back as it should. Make sure your body is in fighting shape.

Just like athlete’s foot, nail fungus likes to live in places that are moist and feature a lot of foot traffic. Many of the same precautions that you already know about to keep yourself athlete’s foot free can be used to keep yourself free of it, as well. First, make sure that you always wear shower shoes or some kind of protective covering every time you head into a public shower. By doing so, you are putting an extra barrier between your feet and any offending fungus that might be lurking around.

Next, you can help to prevent the chances of contracting any sort of fungus on your toes or feet by doing what you can to keep your feet and nails clean and in tip top shape. Make sure you shower at least once per day and keep a close eye on your nails. You don’t have to run out and get a pedicure, but you do what to keep your nails in top shape by clipping them and making sure they stay healthy. If you begin to notice any kind of whitening or thinning of the nail, head to your doctor right away as these are sure signs that you have come into contact with fungus.

If you know that people around you are experiencing fungus problems, you may want to begin to use anti fungus sprays or creams, even if your nails are still perfectly clear and in good shape. You know the phrase an apple a day keeps the doctor away, the same can be said for your toenails. A little preventative medicine may just help kill any sort of fungus invasion before it starts. It is important to note that if you do see signs of toe nail problems, see a doctor, don’t continue to rely on athlete’s foot sprays and powders since they can’t cure this kind of fungus once you get it.

For the ladies out there, make sure you aren’t using toe nail polish too much. When you apply the polish, you can trap excess moisture that can gather in your nails right after a shower or bath, which helps to foster an even more fertile fungus growing environment. Make sure your feet are dry before putting on socks and shoes, as well, as they can trap undue moisture by your feet, which is never a good thing.

Care for your nails

Many of us spend far more time every month trimming and taking care of our fingernails than we do our toenails, but if you want to keep your feet fungus free, you may want to consider shining a brighter light on your toenails. Keep your toenails short and neat but make sure you don’t clip them too short. If you do, you will likely create small cuts or abrasions in and around the skin nearest to your toenails and this can increase the likelihood of a fungal infection.

Dry is dandy

We all know that a dry, clean foot has less bacteria on it but it is also more likely to stay fungus free, as well. If you want to, you can monitor the amount that your feet sweat during the day and change your socks or shoes accordingly. Nail fungus will thrive in the dampest conditions, so do what you can to dry out your feet, either with powders or with fresh socks and shoes. Be careful your coworkers don’t see you, however, you may develop a reputation for being a bit obsessive compulsive.

What’s yours is yours

Be sure that anything that touches your feet remains yours. Most people know enough not to borrow fingernail clippers or nail files from another person, but it is a good idea to not even borrow these items from your wife or kids. Have a cheap set of foot care products for every person in your home, that way, if one person does come down with nail fungus, you don’t have everyone in the house coming down with it in a matter of days. Nail fungus can stay on instruments for long periods of time unless they are sanitized.

Avoid public spaces

Many folks who join public gyms enjoy a hot shower after a long workout so they don’t end up smelling up their car on the way home. If you must shower in a public place, make sure your feet are protected from toe nail fungus. Wear a pair of shower sandals or some other kind of protective foot covering to ensure that your feet have no contact whatsoever with the shower itself. Better yet, wait until you get home and you can use your home shower which is likely much cleaner.

Although it is a completely different type of fungus than athlete’s foot, the way the two are transmitted is pretty much exactly the same. One of the most common ways in which nail fungus is transmitted is by going barefoot in any kind of public space, whether it be the shower at the gym or in your high school, or even at the beach. If you are in public, keep a pair of flip flops or sandals on that will protect your feet from direct contact with the world around it.

You can reduce the risk of picking up both athlete’s foot and other types of fungus by making sure that your nails are clean and trimmed at all times. Be careful though, this is often a trap that many people fall into. They trim their nails so much that they damage the skin on their toes, which gives germs and fungus a direct way to enter into your bloodstream. Many experts suggest going to a pedicurist one time so they can show you exactly how to take care of your feet.

If someone in your house isn’t quite as clean as you are or if you know that someone in your home already has a case of fungus on their feet, whether it be athlete’s foot or the other kind, you can begin using anti fungus sprays and powders to keep those germs at bay. If you create an environment in  your socks and shoes that is unfriendly to fungus growth, you may just stay fungus free, even if you have someone around you who is already infected. It is important to note here that if you begin to show signs of an infection, seek a doctor’s advice right away because the sprays and powders won’t help to cure this particular kind of fungus.

Finally, do what you can to stay clean as much as possible. Assuming no one in your home is showing signs of fungal infection, let your feet breathe at home and make sure that your feet are completely dry before you put on socks and shoes for the day. A damp environment is like paradise for fungus. By following these easy to implement steps, you can stay ahead of the fungus monster once and for all.

One of the biggest problems in the battle against fungus is that people don’t realize just how difficult it is to treat. They begin to see the tell-tail discolouring, flaking, thinning and brittleness that comes with nail fungus and they wait far too long to take action. If you think that you have come into contact with fungus, head to your local doctor right away to see if you can begin treatment. Fungus is difficult enough to stop when it is isolated on only one toe, but if it spreads over both of your feet, you may be fighting the infection for years to come.

Your toenails aren’t the only place fungus can grow. Fingernail fungus is significantly less common than the toenail variety, but it something you can contract. You can fight both of these types of fungus successfully by making sure your immune system is in top shape year round. Do what you can to eat right, get enough sleep and don’t rush back from being sick. Unlike the common cold, a fungus infection isn’t something you can get rid of in a few weeks. Most treatments take years and the failure rate for the most common prescription pill is near 40 percent.

Along with eating right and doing your best to stay healthy, it is very important that you do what you can to stay clean, as well. If you suffer from chronic foot odour, try switching the types of socks you wear or even switching the type of shoes. Ask someone at your local shoe store for a comfortable type of shoe that also breathes well so you don’t have such a problem with perspiration. A damp foot is much more likely to have fungus.

Along with finding the right shoes and socks for your feet, you need to be sure that you treat your footwear with respect. Try not to wear the same exact pair of shoes each and every day, especially if you perspire a lot. Your shoes need time to dry out, otherwise, you are really asking for trouble. You also never want to borrow someone else’s socks or shoes for any reason. Even if they are “clean” you are introducing your feet into an unknown environment. If you can’t seem to get a grip on your sweating problem, change socks in the middle of the day to keep yourself as dry as possible.

It is not easy to deal with, but prevention is possible. Knowing the way that the fungus behaves and the fact that it likes warm, moist environments is half the battle. It is also important to understand that the nail has to be lifted somehow in order for the fungus to make it underneath the nail bed in the first place—or the infection cannot take place. Unfortunately, one of the prime methods in which this lifting happens is through improper clipping of the toe nails.

If you are worried about toenail fungus, prevention is important. You can start with being sure to go about clipping your toe nails but making sure that you do so properly. There is a right way to clip your toenails and a wrong way to clip your toe nails.

First off, be sure to cut the nail straight across in a line. Do this so that the toe nail does not have a chance to crack or break against your shoes or another object, as that gives the fungus an entry point directly to your nail bed—that is never a good thing. If the toenail splits the fungus will be able to enter so keeping the fungus at bay by not giving it an entry point is important.

This is also where not clipping the nail too close comes into play. Some people get clipper-happy and cut it too close with the nail clippers. If you do this and you nip your nail bed in the process you run the chance of giving the fungus an entry point to your nail bed, putting you at risk for infection.

Also, be careful of who you let clip your toenails. Some comes from nail salons and shops. Be sure that your shop properly sterilizes each and every piece of equipment that they use on you. They are automatically required to do so, but that doesn’t mean they are not cutting corners when you aren’t looking. If necessary, avoid nail fungus by bringing your own tools for your peace of mind.

You don’t want to have to deal with fungus. It is just a fact of life that this is one of the more annoying and hard to beat infections of the many that you could stand to contract. Be careful of your clipping, but make sure that it gets done for best results.