Drug & supplement interaction

Male Fern + Tolnaftate

Tolnaftate brand name: Tinactin.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Oct 4, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Male Fern and Tolnaftate in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first.

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Interaction report

Male Fern and Tolnaftate

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Tolnaftate and Male Fern in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

Worth understanding: our licensed dataset holds no drug-interaction record for Male Fern at all — not against Tolnaftate, and not against any other medication we track. This verdict therefore rests on the absence of any recorded data, not on research that looked at this combination and found nothing. We cannot rule an interaction out.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Male Fern safety at a glance

Male Fern overall Avoid Male fern is potentially toxic and has a very narrow margin between an effective and a poisonous dose.
Pregnancy Likely Unsafe When used orally; contraindicated. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of male fern used topically; avoid using. Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Likely Unsafe When used orally; contraindicated. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of male fern used topically; avoid using. Read the full breastfeeding detail

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Tolnaftate and Male Fern? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
What to actually watch for

What Male Fern Itself Has Been Linked To

This is not an interaction — nothing below involves Tolnaftate. It is the side-effect record for Male Fern on its own, from the licensed Natural Medicines monograph. If something new turns up after you add Male Fern, this list is the first place to look. 2 entries are worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

  • Loss of vision / Shortness of breath Worth acting on Additional detail

    “When used orally, male fern may be unsafe.

    Most Common Adverse Effects:

    Orally: Diarrhea, dyspnea, headaches, nausea, optic neuritis, tremors, and vertigo.

    Serious Adverse Effects (Rare):

    Orally: Symptoms of toxicity include cardiac and respiratory failure, coma, muscular weakness, seizures, and temporary or permanent blindness. Death has occurred with severe poisoning.”

    Male Fern · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in diarrhea.

  • Muscle weakness / Seizures Worth acting on Additional detail

    “Orally, male fern can cause coma, headaches, muscle weakness, seizures, tremors, and vertigo (6,11).”

    Male Fern · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in epilepsy.

    2 sources cited
    1. 6. The Review of Natural Products by Facts and Comparisons. St. Louis, MO: Wolters Kluwer Co., 1999.
    2. 11. Leung AY, Foster S. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food, Drugs and Cosmetics. 2nd ed. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1996.
  • Dizziness / Headache Additional detail

    Recorded for Male Fern in the same Natural Medicines adverse-effect record shown under Loss of vision / Shortness of breath above.

  • Diarrhea / Nausea Additional detail

    “Orally, male fern can cause nausea and diarrhea (6).”

    Male Fern · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in diarrhea.

    1 source cited
    1. 6. The Review of Natural Products by Facts and Comparisons. St. Louis, MO: Wolters Kluwer Co., 1999.

Everything above comes from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record for Male Fern — expand a row for the licensed statement it rests on. We haven’t matched Tolnaftate to its FDA label in our system yet, so we can’t compare its own side-effect list here — the leaflet that comes with your prescription is the authoritative list for Tolnaftate.

Special populations

Male Fern in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy And Lactation Likely Unsafe

When used orally; contraindicated. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of male fern used topically; avoid using.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

From our Q&A

Questions About Male Fern or Tolnaftate

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Male Fern or Tolnaftate, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Tolnaftate

This page covers Male Fern only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Tolnaftate page lists 20 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Coffee Charcoal (moderate), European Mandrake (moderate), Glucomannan (moderate) and Guar Gum (moderate).

By severity: 1 major · 7 moderate · 12 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Tolnaftate page

“For anyone using tolnaftate (Tinactin), the antifungal in athlete's foot creams and sprays, activated charcoal is the interaction to understand before all others. It holds the only major rating among the 20 ingredients on file, since charcoal binds many medicines and can lower how much reaches the body, even drugs not given by mouth.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Tolnaftate interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Male Fern as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 35 real supplement products containing Male Fern, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Male Fern. Even though Male Fern itself has no known interaction with Tolnaftate, another ingredient on your label might. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Male Fern and Tolnaftate Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Male Fern
Steady interest

#833 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Tolnaftate
Steady interest

#2,493 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Male Fern reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified October 4, 2026. The Male Fern and Tolnaftate records this page draws on were last updated July 10, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Male Fern

What is Male Fern?

  • Intestinal worms (especially tapeworm)
  • Traditional deworming remedy
  • Folk wound care

Male fern is an old herbal remedy that was once used as a powerful treatment to expel tapeworms. It is now considered outdated and potentially dangerous because of its narrow safety margin and risk of serious poisoning, and safer modern medicines have replaced it. It should not be used for self-treatment.

Dryopteris filix-mas · Dryopteridaceae · Rhizome (underground stem) and root · Liquid extract (oleoresin), capsules, and historically a crude root powder

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Male Fern is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Male Fern record says about it on its own.

Male Fern: dosing

There is no safe, established self-care dose for male fern, and it is not recommended for home use. In the past it was given by medical professionals in carefully measured amounts under supervision, precisely because the line between an effective and a toxic dose is so thin.If you ever encounter a product containing male fern, do not guess at a dose.

From our Male Fern monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Male Fern monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Tolnaftate

What Is Tolnaftate Used For?

Brand name: Tinactin

Tolnaftate treats fungal skin infections. Across the products, these include athlete's foot (tinea pedis), ringworm (tinea corporis) and jock itch (tinea cruris). Many products also help prevent athlete's foot with once- or twice-daily use.

Some products are aimed at the skin around the nails. For example, Healmusz Fungal Nail ointment is used for toe fungus on the skin around the cuticle and under the nail edge. Several labels state the product is not effective on the scalp or nails, so check your own product's label.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Tolnaftate

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (1,403 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Fatigue 88 reports
Nausea 86 reports
Dyspnea 81 reports
Diarrhea 73 reports
Anxiety 69 reports
See full Tolnaftate drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Male Fern

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Male Fern — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
0Moderate
0Minor
2,829No known interaction
2,829 No interaction
No interaction 2,829 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Male Fern against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,829 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Male Fern list.

See the full Male Fern interactions page
See every supplement checked against Tolnaftate, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Male Fern References

The 3 references that drive our Male Fern monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. The Review of Natural Products by Facts and Comparisons. St. Louis, MO: Wolters Kluwer Co., 1999.
  2. Leung AY, Foster S. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food, Drugs and Cosmetics. 2nd ed. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1996.
  3. McGuffin M, Hobbs C, Upton R, Goldberg A, eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, LLC 1997.

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Male Fern and Tolnaftate Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Male Fern with Tolnaftate?
We do not list a known interaction between Male Fern and Tolnaftate. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Does Tolnaftate interact with any supplements?
Yes. Tolnaftate has documented interactions with 20 supplements in our database — Male Fern is not one of them. The Tolnaftate interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Where next

Keep Exploring

Male Fern monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Tolnaftate drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Tolnaftate supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Tolnaftate, ranked by severity Supplement interaction checker Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z Every drug we’ve checked against herbs & supplements References The 3 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Tolnaftate and Male Fern?

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.