Vicks VapoRub for fungal nails: fact or fiction?

What is Vicks VapoRub?

Vicks VapoRub is a vapour rub that’s been around for more than a century. It was developed for coughs and colds. You rub it on your chest, throat or back to ease a blocked nose and a cough.

Its main ingredients are essential oils: camphor, menthol and eucalyptus oil. It also contains thymol, a compound that comes from thyme. Together they give it the cooling, penetrating smell most of us remember from being ill as a child.

Why do people use Vicks on fungal nails?

Vicks became a fungal nail remedy because some of its ingredients have shown activity against fungi in the lab. Thymol, menthol and eucalyptus oil in particular can slow down fungal growth.

Thymol is the most interesting of these. It’s a natural compound that researchers have studied widely for its effect on microbes. In controlled lab studies, thymol has held back several types of fungi, including the dermatophytes that cause fungal nails.

That lab work really exists. Researchers placed the active ingredients of a Vicks-type menthol rub (eucalyptus oil, camphor and menthol), plus thymol, right next to the dermatophytes behind fungal nails, including Trichophyton rubrum. Camphor, menthol, thymol and eucalyptus oil slowed fungal growth the most (Phytotherapy Research, 2003).

One detail decides how much that result is worth. It happened in a Petri dish, with the fungus lying there uncovered. Not through a nail. That difference is what this article is really about.

So people started experimenting with Vicks as a cheap, easy-to-find alternative to pricey nail fungus medicines. The tip spread on social media and soon went viral.

What does the science say about Vicks and toenail fungus?

Only one scientific study has looked specifically at Vicks VapoRub on fungal nails. It was published in 2011 in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

In that study, 18 people with fungal nails applied Vicks VapoRub to their affected nails every day. After 48 weeks, 15 of the 18 (83%) showed a positive result, ranging from partial to complete improvement.

That 83% deserves a closer look, because it hides three different outcomes. In five of the 18 people (27.8%) the infection fully cleared: the lab found no more fungus and the nail looked normal again. Ten (55.6%) saw partial improvement, and for three (16.7%) nothing changed (J Am Board Fam Med, 2011). A little over one in four people with a fully cleared nail is very different from 83% success. But 83% is the number doing the rounds on social media.

At first glance, those results look promising. But the study comes with some important caveats:

A very small sample. With only 18 people, the study is too small to draw reliable conclusions. Researchers use much larger groups to rule out chance.

No control group. There was no placebo group. So there’s no way of telling whether the improvements came from the Vicks, or would have happened anyway.

Largely a visual judgement. Partial improvement was judged on how the nail looked in photos, not on lab tests showing the fungus had actually gone.

A long study period. The study ran for 48 weeks, almost a year. That’s close to the time a nail needs to grow out completely, so it’s unclear whether the improvement came from the Vicks or simply from the nail renewing itself.

How do people use Vicks on fungal nails?

People who try Vicks VapoRub on a fungal nail usually rub a small amount into the affected nail and the skin around it. They do this once or twice a day, often morning and evening. Some cover the nail with a plaster or a sock afterwards to keep the rub in place.

The usual advice is to clean and dry the nail well before you apply the Vicks. People also cut the nail as short as possible, so the rub can get closer to the fungus.

That last tip has nothing to do with Vicks, and it’s sensible on its own. The NHS also advises keeping your nails short. If the nail is thick, you can gently file down the top layer with a nail file or pumice stone, or ask a podiatrist (chiropodist) to thin it for you. The thinner the nail plate, the less there is in the way of whatever you put on it. That goes for every product, including the ones that are actually designed to get into the nail.

Pros and cons of Vicks for fungal nails

Pros:

• Vicks VapoRub is cheap, and you’ll find it in almost every supermarket and pharmacy.
• It contains ingredients (thymol in particular) that have shown activity against fungi in lab studies.
• It’s a relatively low-risk product for use on the skin.
• It’s an easy, low-cost experiment if you’re curious.

Cons:

• There’s only one small study, without a control group. That’s not enough scientific evidence.
• Vicks VapoRub wasn’t developed or tested for use on nails.
• The rub is thick and greasy, so its ingredients probably get only a little way into the nail plate.
• The strong smell can be off-putting, especially when you’re using it every day.
• Used for a long time, it can irritate the skin around the nail.
• Results, if you get any, take months of daily use.

Why most home remedies struggle with fungal nails

To understand why Vicks and other home remedies often disappoint, it helps to know how a fungal nail infection works. The fungus doesn’t just sit on the surface of the nail. It grows in and under the nail plate. And the nail itself is hard, keratin-rich material that many substances can’t easily get through.

So a remedy has to do two things. It has to act on the fungus, and it has to get through the nail plate to where the fungus actually is. That second part is exactly where most home remedies fall short. They may contain active ingredients, but those ingredients simply don’t reach the right place.

Vicks VapoRub is a thick, greasy rub, designed to sit on the skin and slowly release its vapours. It isn’t formulated to get through keratin, the material your nails are made of.

When is Vicks not enough?

If you’re thinking of trying Vicks, keep your expectations realistic. In these situations, Vicks is unlikely to do enough:

• The nail is clearly thickened or misshapen.
• The discolouration covers more than half of the nail.
• More than one nail is affected.
• You’ve had the infection for a long time.
• Home remedies you’ve tried before haven’t worked.

In these cases the infection has probably gone too far for a home remedy. It’s time to look at proper fungal nail treatment instead.

The real question isn’t whether something can stop fungi growing. Plenty of things can. It’s whether it actually gets to the fungus. Here’s how the options compare on that point, next to the other home remedies for fungal nails:

The bottom two rows aren’t something you do at home. Photodynamic therapy happens at a clinic, and tablets go through your GP, who weighs up the side effects with you. Whichever you choose, the nail still has to grow out, and your skin and shoes still need looking after.

Fungal nail care with tiptoe

If you’d rather follow a routine with research behind it, the tiptoe range is worth a look. At its heart is a patented peptide, and scientific publications have been written about it.

You apply tiptoe naildrops twice a day at the base of the nail, where new nail grows. Unlike a strong-smelling rub, the drops are fragrance-free, which helps when you’re using them every day for months. A nail grows about 1 mm every 6 weeks, so think months, not weeks. How long it takes depends on how deep the infection goes.

A fungal nail often comes back because only the nail gets treated, while the skin between the toes and the shoes reinfect it. So the routine also includes tiptoe care foam, which cares for the skin around the nail and between your toes, and tiptoe protect your feet, a spray for your feet and shoes, so you don’t reinfect yourself.

Tried Vicks without the result you hoped for? Or want to know where your nail stands before you choose? Take the free nail test and see which approach suits your situation. If your nail is badly affected, or you have diabetes, talk to your GP or a podiatrist first.