At least once a day, one of my patients that have nail fungus will tell me that they heard soaking their nails with various household products will kill their nail fungus. The most common one I am asked about is vinegar. Although vinegar is great not only to put on your salad, but also for cleaning various surfaces in your house, there are no scientific data that show it will treat nail fungus. The theory is that one of the many acids in the vinegar breaks down the fungus; however, this has never tested to be true. Dr. Tracey Vlahovic recently blogged about the chemical reactions and the lack of science behind this wives tale on Podiatry Today. Long story short–there is no proof that soaking your nails in vinegar will cure fungus infection, however if you want to try it, it won’t hurt you. It just may make you contemplate adding some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). YUM!
