You mean your nails turn yellow if you wear nail polish? That's because you're blocking your nails from breathing. Yes, they need to breath too. You're sufficating the nails so they turn yellow.

Is is possible for you to alter the days, some days with and some without nail polish, to give your nails a breathing break?

Now, if you do develop real fungus on your nails, the best and cheapest treat is applying Vicks ointment. Apply twice a day in the area. It does take a couple of weeks to notice the change but it really does work!

I've also heard that you can mix cornmeal & water into a sort of slurry, like a thick cornbread batter, & soak your toes/feet in it 15 minutes every night-
you'd need to take the polish off before you do this of course.

I used to have fake fingernails back when they were the rage, but the pain I went through when I got fungus under one convinced me that my own nails were good enough.

The fungus looked like a brown line where the nail is growing away from the fingertip, the place where your nail begins to be white rather than sort of the color of your skin.

The nail tech soaked that one fingertip/nail in either an acetone solution or a bleach solution, can't remember which, for just a few minutes & the fungus was killed.

jkard- if you are talking about your nails turning yellow I can't help you but If you are talking about fungus I have had that in my toe nails.
I too paint my toe nails in the summer but last year I had nail fungus on 3 of my toes. I went to the Podiatrist & he told me mine was from wearing sneakers & socks for work & my feet getting wet.
He told me the best thing to do is go to the store & purchase anti-fungal medication, it did not matter which one as they were all about the same. It is a liquid in a small bottle that has a brush. You just put it on the nail that is affected & it does work. He also said when you use nail polish to leave it off for a couple of days when you change the color so the nails have a chance to breath.
This has worked for me, hope it helps.

A good way to avoid yellowing is to use a good clear base coat first. As the color grows out, take off old polish and recoat with a clear base and color, every two or three weeks. Green fungus often happens on artificial nails that are loose and water or other goop has been trapped against the nail. Polish covers the artificial nail and fungus grows, often only noticed when the nail becomes sensitive or the artificial nail comes off.
Some people who have uneven nail beds and layers can have fungus more often than healthy even nails.
Can't really say why polish would give you fungus. I used to work in a Salon. Did lots of nails, never had anyone get fungus from polish.

One product that I have used and seems effective is "Fungi Nail". Its active ingredient is Undecyleric Acid 25%. It is available at Walgreen's and other pharmacies. A 1 fl oz bottle will provide many treatments, and many trreatments are required to rid you nail bed of fungus.

Painting the top of nail with medication is not effective since it will not penetrate the nail. The treatment area is around the entire perimeter of the nail. Brush on the solution on and slightly under the cuticle and under the tip of the nail - everywhere flesh meets nail. Nothing can be done about the discolored nail with the fungus already trapped inside the nail material. The idea is to rid the growth area of fungus and keep it that way. As the old nail grows out, it gets snipped off and hopefully with treatment, the colony under the tip of the nail is wiped out to and will not get re-established from the infected nail at it grows outward.

Treatment is complete after new nail has completely grown out. As you can see, treatment is lengthy since toenails are slow growing.

Athelete's foot: - is caused by a similar fungus. I am very susectible to it and must guard against it whenever my feet may come into contact where the fungus may exist, principally motel/hotel showers, public showers at camp grounds, and public swiming places. There is always an infected foot stomping around in those places. (I went through the 8th grade at a country grade school and spent many hours during the summer bare footed and never got a foot fungus. After being exposed to the shower room during my freshman year at high school, I had a case of athelete's foot and battled that problem for the next 4 years. Prevention methods were poor at that time. The PE instructor urged us boys to step into a box of foot powder before we put our shoes on. Apparently, there was no antifungal agent in that powder, and for me it was sure exposure to the fungus.

A number of years ago, I took internal medication for athelete's foot as prescribed by a podiatrist. It was a long process; I believe it was lamisil. He had to take blood samples periodically to check on liver and other functions. Doctors are getting more reluctant to use internal medication.

For me, the best medicine is prevention. What has worked for me is to use an anti-fungal powder in my shoes after showering in non-home places or after occasions where I might have come in contact with the fungus. I have found only two, non-prescription foot powders that are effective. These are "Desenex" and "Tinactin". Desenex is the better of the two. The active ingredient in Desenex is 2% miconazole nitrate. All other foot powders that I have found do provided benefits, but do not contain antifugal components and do little against fungal infections.

If you buy either Desenex or Tinactin, I recommend the power form in a shaker container. The most popular form, found on store shelves, is the spray can. I don't know the reason for this except maybe customer convenience. I had suspected a profit motive and ease of sales. The spray cans do not contain much active ingredient; The powder containers are the better buy. Keep a watch for the powder form, and when you find it, buy an extra container or 2 to stock your supply. Places where I have found the powder form: Target, Walgreens', and big box grocery stores.

I guess I did not explain myself very clearly. What happens is that after the polish is on my toenails for a time it begains to peel off of a few toes. When I remove the polish there is a white "film" ? on my toes. I do treat it for fungus and it clears up but I have a hard time keeping polish on those toes and the polish seems to promote the fungus. I guess I must be unusual? I was just wondering if the polish I see advertised on Amazon would help the fungus from growing under the polish. Thanks everyone I really do appreciate your help. I would like to have some pretty nails for summer. :)

This post was edited by jkayd_il5 on Fri, May 31, 13 at 8:41