Tea Tree Oil

A couple of years ago at the opticians I learned I had something called 'Blepharitis', caused by eyelid mites, and that I should regularly wash my eyelashes with baby shampoo. At a more recent optician appointment, I was advised to increase the regularity of this ritual, to make it a daily thing. In fact it seemed the more I washed, the worse the problem. Then I looked online to see if there were any words of advice. I found an eye specialist talking about treatment with tea tree oil. It seemed worth a try, particularly as I already had some tea tree oil. Twice a day for a week, I dropped five drops of tea tree oil into a bowl of warm water which I then scooped up in my hands and used to wash my face, eyes lightly closed but paying particular attention to ensure they received a thorough dousing. At the end of the week sure enough, the Blepharitis was cured and shows no sign of recurrence a month later.

For Mother's Day, my son gave me a book called 'Grow your own drugs' (natural remedies for common ailments, NOT the illicit so called 'recreational' drugs). It mentions tea tree oil as a natural anti-fungal treatment - and buoyed with its success at treating the Blepharitis, I decided to give it a go at treating a long-standing fungal infection of a toe-nail. Back in June last year my GP offered a choice of either applying a topical treatment directly to the nail or taking an anti-fungal tablet. I chose the topical treatment and for 6 months applied the special nail lacquer to the affected nail. When the treatment pack ran out, I didn't bother going back for another box as there didn't appear to be any noticeable improvement. I put the problem to one side ... until last week. I mixed a few drops of tea tree oil with some sweet almond oil and began painting it on the fungal toe-nail daily. Unfortunately I didn't think to take a photo before starting but I took one today so I can chart any further developments pictorially.