Thanks for the recommendation. I don't wear polish at all because it usually is chipped the next day. The only time I can ever keep polish on my nails is with fake nails and I'm not doing that any more!

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.

oh, this brings back memories....read on... when i was a teen i was using nair on my legs (yes, that dates me and i can't believe we used to use products to burn the hair off our legs!) the phone rang and i ran to get it and in the process a blob of the nair fell off my leg onto the brand new carpet my parents just had installed. it left a bleached out white spot on the carpet. my father was very upset and complained about that on many occasions over the next several years. i felt bad at the time but couldn't understand why a year or two later he was still nagging me about it (and now i wonder why he did not get someone to do a patch on it but that is another story). flash forward 35 years. i am now in my late 40's, a homeowner and totally understand why my dad was so upset! it is so hard to scrimp and save to enable these kinds of home improvements, on top of trying to support a family. i would have been upset too. i feel bad about it today but also recognize it was an accident. the carpet that i stained has long since been replaced. life goes on but family relationships last forever. my dad was trying to teach me to be more responsible and i appreciate that. my dear dad passed away suddenly three years ago. i sure wish he was with me today - even if he was complaining about the nair spot on the carpet. miss you dad. i know you would have had a smile on your face reading this story. love, your youngest daughter

Here is what my manicurist advised me to do, and it does work. (I don't do my nails any more since I got allergic to the polish!) Buy a topcoat you like. I like the fast dry ones like Out the Door. Every day after getting your nails done, using a fairly dry top coat brush, brush lightly over the tips of your nails and be sure to include the edge. Every day. It does protect the color from wearing off.