The Journal of Phytopharmacology, 2020;9(6):419-422 DOI:10.31254/phyto.2020.9606

Review Article

Melaleuca alternifolia Australian Tea Tree oil as an effective antifungal agent topically for Tinea unguium (onychomycosis)

Wendy M Welder¹

Wendy M Welder

1. a: 1267 highway 63 New Sharon IA 50207, United States b: American College of Healthcare Sciences, Portland, OR 97239, United States

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 28th August, 2020 / Accepted: 14th October, 2020

Abstract

The evolution of modern medical advances is often underestimated and that as little as a hundred years ago, none of the formulated antibiotics currently available existed. The germ theory was only substantiated because bacteria had been identified with the refining of microscopic technol-ogy and organisms that did not exist in context or conjunction to human disease. The connection between what appeared through the lens of a microscope slowly became the basis of the medical theories of human health and illness. This included the causative agents within all states of hu-man wellness. Humans started using plants and their essences long before they were able to rec-ord it. The scientific renaissance started the medical movement towards concrete concepts and reproducible results all bound by the scientific methods. This left little room for combinations of chemicals or plant constituents and compartmentalized human health into systems that worked best under strict control negating the concept of synergy. Human medicine is now moving out of the realm of being solely dependent on synthetic chemical formulations. Alternative and modern medical healers alike are starting to understand that both paths to human healing are needed to care for the many microbial assaults caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Combing herbal folk-lore with modern chemistry is not a compromise but a middle way for better human health and illustrated with the use of Melaleuca alternifolia (Australian Tea Tree Oil) and modern antifungal agents used in conjunction to definitively cure the fungal infection starting with the causative fungi Tinea unguim and the condition of onychomycosis as an example.