You are here: Home Page > Foot health information > Common foot problems > Athlete's foot
What is it?
Athlete’s foot is a fungal infection. It can lead to intense itching, cracked, blistered or peeling areas of skin, redness and scaling. It can occur on moist, waterlogged skin especially between the fourth and fifth toes, or on dry, flaky skin around the heels or elsewhere on the foot.
What causes it?
“It’s caused by a number of fungal species which you can pick up from anywhere (typically communal areas such as pools, showers and changing rooms) or anywhere where you may walk around barefooted,” says registered podiatrist Shuja Qureshi. “The fungus on each bit of skin that falls away from someone else’s feet can be picked up by you if you’re prone.”
Once your feet have been contaminated, the warm, dark and sweaty environment of feet cramped in shoes or trainers provides the ideal breeding ground for the fungus. However, athlete’s foot also occurs in dry, flaky areas. It’s quite common in summer sandal-wearers. The sun makes your skin dry out, so it loses its natural protective oils; this combined with the constant trauma from sandals makes them more prone to infection.
Who gets it?
Well, it’s not called athlete's foot for nothing. Walking barefoot around swimming pools and spending your life in trainers make you more likely to suffer. But obviously, you don’t need to be an athlete to suffer.
Is it serious?
“If left untreated, the fungus can spread to the toe nails, causing thickening and yellowing of the nail, which is much harder to treat,” says Shuja. “Fungal infections are highly contagious and can spread to anywhere on your skin – to your scalp, hands and even your groin, especially if you use the same towel for your feet as for the rest of your body.”
What can I do?
There are many things you can do to make your feet less hospitable to fungal infections:
Re-think your footwear
Firstly, change your footwear on a regular basis. There’s no point sorting your feet out if you constantly re-infect them by putting them into damp, fungally infected shoes. It takes 24-48 hours for shoes to dry out properly, so alternate your shoes daily. “If you really have to wear the same pair day after day (say, if you’re on holiday), dry them out by using the hairdryer on a cold setting,” says Qureshi. “This will get rid of perspiration quickly without creating more heat.”
To help shoes dry out more quickly, take any insoles out. Also, loosen any laces and open your shoes out fully so that air can circulate. Go for trainers with ventilation holes.
If your shoes are so tight that they squeeze your toes together, this encourages moisture to gather between your toes and encourages fungus. Let air circulate between the toes by going for a wider, deeper toebox instead and choose shoes made from natural materials.
Of course, you should also change your socks every day too.
Wear flip-flops in the bathroom and in public showers. This will not only ensure that you don’t leave your dead skin around for others to pick up, but will stop you picking up another species of fungus! And never wear anyone else’s shoes, trainers or slippers.
Re-think your footcare
Treatment depends on what type of athlete’s foot you have:
For athlete's foot where the skin conditions are dry
If your athlete’s foot occurs on a dry area such as your heel, you need to restore moisture by rubbing in an anti-fungal cream or ointment. However, don’t forget to wash your hands thoroughly afterwards. Even better, use disposable gloves so you don’t get the fungus on your hands at all.
For athlete's foot where the skin conditions have been moist
This requires altogether different treatment. Wash your feet in as cold water as you can bear, as hot water only makes your feet fungus-friendly. Then dry them thoroughly after washing – preferably with a separate towel or even kitchen roll. Dab dry, don’t rub as rubbing tends to take away any healing skin. As the aim is to get rid of the moisture - although the skin may appear flaky and dry - never use moisturiser between your toes. Avoid powder too as it can cake up and irritate the skin. A spirit-based preparation can help, such as surgical spirit (it’s cooling, soothing and antiseptic). “It might sting a bit,” says Shuja, “but it evaporates the moisture and allows the skin to heal.”
If your athlete's foot is mild or you’ve only just started to suffer, rethinking your foot hygiene may help. Surgical spirit may be enough to see it off. However if an antifungal medication is required, your pharmacist can recommend one.
“The mistake most people make is to stop the hygiene regime, shoe rotation and/or medication once their symptoms have gone,” says Shuja. “Even though your symptoms may disappear after several days or weeks, the fungus can lie dormant and could eventually reappear if the environment is right. Some products require continued treatment for many weeks - always follow the instructions. Also, be alert to symptoms so that you can deal with any problems straight away.
Though you should avoid using anti-fungal powders between the toes, they’re good for dusting inside shoes and trainers.
What can a podiatrist do?
You should be able to get rid of athlete’s foot on your own, but a podiatrist may help you pinpoint the best treatment for your particular type of athlete’s foot. Your podiatrist can also help if the fungal infection has spread to your nails, by reducing the thickness and cutting back the nails, thereby exposing the infected nailbed to a lighter, cooler environment.
“Nail infections don’t respond to topical treatments,” says Qureshi. “You need oral medication (i.e. tablets) to kill the fungus in nails. “If the fungus is only in the nail and not elsewhere, it is probably caused by an injury. An injury allows the fungus to creep in and multiply under the nail. This can affect the substance of the nail which may become crusty, discoloured and deformed. This oral medication needed, however, can have side effects. So if you have other medical conditions or are on other medication, your GP or podiatrist may recommend that you don’t take it.
What your GP can do
Your GP can prescribe a broad-spectrum anti-fungal medication to eliminate the fungus if local treatment or your prevention regime has failed.
 ADVERTISEMENT PROMOTION
LamisilAT hints on Athletes Foot
We expect a lot from our feet. They carry the entire weight of our body and in an average lifetime could walk the equivalent of four times around the earth, so it makes sense to take care of them. This module will concentrate on the treatment and management of athlete’s foot, a common skin infection which affects the feet.
What is athlete’s foot?
Athlete’s foot is a highly contagious fungal infection and is often a recurrent problem. If untreated, some cases develop into a chronic (= longer term) infection.
Who can get athlete’s foot?
Just about anybody! Athlete’s foot is not, as the name suggests, limited to the athletic ones amongst us. It has been estimated that around 17% of the general adult population is affected at any one time. It does seem to be a little more common in men than women.
It is often caught from the damp floor of communal changing rooms or at the swimming pool. Wearing shoes (especially training shoes) for long periods of time can make the feet very warm and sweaty. Also fungal infections can be spread easily by sharing towels, shoes or socks.
How do I know if I have Athlete’s Foot?
The most common symptoms of athlete’s foot are:-
- Intense itching between the toes (usually 3rd, 4th and 5th toe)
- Painful, stinging feeling when the itching is scratched
- Skin peeling and cracking between the toes
- Red and inflamed where it’s itching
- Patchy scaling over the soles of the feet
What treatments are available?
There are a number of different antifungal medicines for athlete's foot available without prescription. These are provided as creams, ointments, lotions, powders, and liquid or dry powder sprays, and are applied directly onto the infected area(s). Most antifungal medicines are described as primary 'fungistatic' because repeated applications slow down and control the growth of the fungal infection, enabling the fungus to gradually die out, assisted by the body's gradual shedding of the infected skin. Some require daily application for up to 4 weeks, and some require continued use for a short further period after the symptoms have disappeared. A degree of commitment and perseverance is thus required because treatment failure and early recurrence of the infection are common problems if the recommended course of treatment is not followed.
Recently LamisilAT has introduced new products which are available without a prescription. LamisilAT acts in a different way to other athlete's foot treatments which you can buy without a prescription. This is because it contains a drug called Terbafine Hydrochloride 1% which is called a 'primary fungicidal treatment'. This means that it is highly effective and kills the fungus responsible for athlete's foot directly and quickly. The course of treatment is therefore very short and simple. LamisilAT only requires one week of daily treatment to kill the fungus and provides lasting protection for weeks and weeks. LamisilAT is available in both a cream and a spray. Always read the label.
If your condition is severe, keeps recurring, or is associated with nail infection, it is wise to ask your chiropodist, pharmacist or general practitioner to advise you on the most suitable treatment.
What can I do to help prevent infection?
- Wash your feet every day and allow them to dry properly before putting on shoes and socks.
- Don't wear the same shoes every day
- Avoid wearing synthetic footwear, choose cotton socks and leather shoes to let you feet breathe
- Make sure socks are clean and dry
- Avoid sharing towels or footwear
- Avoid walking barefoot in changing rooms
Feetforlife.org 20-Jul-2006
Categories: Common Foot Problems
Story read 179211 times
|
