Skin diseases of the feet are a very common pathology. Pathogenic bacteria provoke the disease, and it is transmitted from person to person. Often the sick person does not know if the skin fungus on the feet is how to treat it and if it can be removed at home with folk remedies. There are many ways to get rid of the signs of mycosis with the help of special medicines and old recipes.
What is a skin fungus on the foot
An infectious disease that affects the skin is called ringworm. The most common type is athlete's foot. Fungal spores are able to live in ordinary shoes for a long time and adapt to any living conditions. The most common infections are toenails and toenails. Skin lesions do not pose a threat to life, but contribute to the development of cosmetic defects. If mycosis of the foot is not treated at the initial stage, then other microbes in the form of mold bacteria or Candida fungi join it later.
Symptoms of the disease
The treatment of skin fungus on the feet should begin immediately after the first symptoms appear, otherwise the disease will drag on for a long time. Mycosis is characterized by peeling of the skin. This is due to the fact that the microbe penetrates deep into the layers of the skin, destroying them. Spots form on the nails (onychomycosis), small blisters appear between the toes (intertriginous form), which are filled with fluid and burst, the sole becomes overgrown with calluses (hyperkeratotic appearance). Fungal reproduction in any layer of the epidermis is accompanied by an unpleasant odor and the following symptoms:
- burning, itching, accompanied by dry skin;
- exfoliation with flour;
- nails darken, thicken, layer;
- erosive processes develop in areas of redness.
Treatment of athlete's foot
Before using an antifungal agent, it is necessary to consult a doctor, because the pathology must be treated, depending on the type of pathogen and the duration of the course of the disease. In advanced forms, foot mycosis is difficult to treat. How to get rid of foot fungus:
- localization of the disease with local therapy at an early stage: ointments, creams, solutions, compresses, baths, disinfection of shoes;
- systemic therapy at a later stage: the use of medications.
Systemic drugs are used in several ways:
- Classic. Tablets are taken throughout the course every day.
- Short. You can stop taking medications before a healthy nail grows.
- intermittently. Therapy, which is carried out in several courses at intervals equal in duration to the course.
- Pulse therapy. Taking pills is combined with breaks that exceed the duration of the course.
In the advanced stage of the disease, the use of antifungal drugs is necessary. Systemic antimycotics are chosen on an individual basis, as these drugs have contraindications. When the first unpleasant symptoms appear, it is necessary to scratch the nail plate for onychomycosis and visit a dermatologist to make the correct diagnosis and prescribe drugs for external and / or internal effects on the body. The most effective include:
Antifungal ointment
Many people have a question: skin fungus on the legs - what can be treated if the infection has appeared only in the upper layers of the skin. In pharmacies today, it is easy to find various antifungal ointments that differ in their mode of action and composition. The following local preparations quickly treat bunion at an early stage:
- Zinc ointment. It has a good absorbent and astringent effect. It copes well with skin irritations and mycoses. It is applied 1-2 times a day to the site of the lesion and the area around it. The duration of therapy is 2-3 weeks.
- Sulfur ointment. An excellent remedy for the treatment of mycosis of the foot. Within a week of daily use, you can get rid of the disease. Sulfur ointment has one drawback - it has an unpleasant smell. This fact should be taken into account when purchasing.
Treatment of foot fungus at home can also be carried out with antifungal creams, which differ from ointments only in the substances that make up their composition.
In order to speed up the healing process, in addition to the main therapy, it is necessary to treat the fungus with the help of special antifungal varnishes. They differ from drugs with similar action in a special structure. Antifungal sprays are liquid and are applied directly to the nail plate. The agent is easily inserted into microcracks, maximally affecting the fungus. This is practical, as ointments and creams have a thick consistency, so they are easily removed with the slightest impact.
After applying the medicine, mycosis pathogens die after 8 hours. You can use the drug under decorative varnishes 1-2 times a week - this does not reduce their effectiveness. The duration of treatment is until the complete disappearance of onychomycosis. List of the most popular antifungal varnishes:
With mycosis of the feet, baths with baking soda should be taken every day, preferably before bed. The procedure should take at least 15 minutes. Baking soda is a substance that negatively affects the vital activity of a fungal infection, so it is part of many medicines that help with athlete's foot. To treat the fungus, you need warm water with a comfortable temperature of 40 C-45 C. Soda is diluted in a proportion of 2 tablespoons. spoons for 2 liters of water.
Before the procedure, you should thoroughly wash your feet with laundry soap and remove the keratinized layer with a pumice stone or sandpaper. You should also process the nail plates, cutting the free edge of the nail and removing as much of the white plate under it with a nail file. After the procedure, the feet should be carefully wiped with a towel, without rinsing, then treated with an antifungal agent prescribed by a dermatologist.
Folk remedies
The most effective folk remedy for toenail fungus is vinegar. It creates an acidic environment that prevents the proliferation of yeast bacteria. As a result of exposure to vinegar at home, the pathogen quickly loses access to food sources and dies. It is best to apply applications immediately after baths. To do this, a cotton pad is soaked in a 9% acetic solution and applied to the area affected by the fungus for 15 minutes.
Another popular remedy effective against Candida fungi is the external use of hydrogen peroxide. First, it is recommended to take a bath with a soda solution, then soak a piece of cotton wool with a 3% peroxide solution and apply it to the affected skin area, putting clean socks on top. It is necessary to keep the application up to 60 minutes 2 times a day until complete recovery.
prevention
To recognize the problem in time, you need to know what the fungus looks like. To do this, it is better to ask this question in advance by looking at photos on the Internet. Then you should follow the advice of dermatologists, what you should do to avoid getting infected with foot fungus:
- after visiting the beach, pool and other public places, you should wash your feet completely;
- with sweaty feet, the risk of contracting mold fungi develops, so you should stop wearing closed socks and shoes for a long time;
- in order not to be infected with pathogenic microflora, it is not necessary to give personal hygiene items, clothes or shoes to others;
- you should take care of your toes regularly: get a pedicure, trim overgrown nails.
How to treat skin fungus on feet
Find out how to treat toenail fungus, because this is a contagious disease that can go to the nails. Fungi not only look ugly, but also harm health. This condition cannot be started, it is urgent to take measures for treatment.
What is recommended to treat skin fungus on the feet
For the treatment of trichophytosis fungi, it is necessary to wipe the skin with iodine. With severe inflammation, it is advisable to make creams.
In addition to all this, it is desirable to use vitamins, especially ascorbic acid.
It is better to choose vitamins for the treatment period, as the body needs support.
If the skin is affected by the fungus Candida, then corticosteroid creams, hydrocortisone, will be needed.
Symptoms of this pathology
Most often, fungi on the skin appear in older people, after 50. But we must not forget that the disease is contagious, so even the new generation can have this disease if they do not respect some rules.
Some signs of skin fungus include:
With a lesion, the first signs are visible in the area between the fingers. It is from there that the fungus grows all over the leg. It often covers the nails as well. Usually, athlete's foot affects both feet. If the form is acute, then blisters appear, which then become irritated, wounds appear.
Redness is observed on the skin, it becomes very dense. In addition, there is an unpleasant smell of the feet, not only after wearing shoes. The legs seem to start burning, and when you walk, the pain increases. The skin may be wrinkled, there is a strong dryness.
Fungi are spread in the following way. The rash appears in a small area of the skin. Over time, it begins to peel off and the affected area spreads.
At the initial stage, a person practically does not worry about anything, only about appearance. Then there are already painful sensations. Fungi spread quite quickly.
Complex treatment of the disease
The treatment of skin fungus on the legs should be carried out not only by applying funds directly to the affected areas, but also by taking medicines inside.
To choose a medicine, first of all, you should consult a doctor. When starting treatment, it is desirable to exclude other drugs. During the treatment period, the doctor should check the patient's condition and make regular skin scrapings to determine how the treatment is going.
The full course of treatment lasts at least three months. First, the first stage of treatment, which lasts a week. After that, there is a break for two weeks, after which the treatment is resumed.
This is necessary to avoid relapses. They happen often, especially if the immune system is not strengthened. When it becomes weaker, the first signs of mold immediately appear on the skin.
It is necessary to combine the treatment. In the morning it is advisable to use the ointment, and in the evening take the medicine inside. You can use both creams and solutions several times a day.
Apply the product with a rubbing motion. If after two weeks there is no significant improvement, then stronger drugs are prescribed. Every movement should be careful, because it is very easy to damage such skin.
Proven pills for fungus
For all types of fungi, a strong medicine is prescribed. Take the tablet once and only after meals. It quickly penetrates the body and immediately begins the fight against infection.
The main thing when taking pills is not to increase the amount yourself. This will help to avoid overdose and side effects. Tablets are best combined with ointments or gels. A pill rarely achieves the desired effect.
Points and solutions
Drops are very effective in the fight against fungi. First, they destroy the infected cells, after which they protect the intact ones. In addition to removing the cause of the infection, the drops remove inflammation and itching.
Drops are best used as an additional element of treatment. Fungus is a serious disease that cannot be cured with a medicine. Drops will work best at the initial stage, when the development of the fungus is not very extensive.
Choosing the best folk medicine
Sometimes medicines cannot improve the condition.
In such cases, you can turn to proven folk methods:
- Coffee. This drink is useful not only for internal use, but also as a solution for baths. Strong insoluble coffee should be poured with hot water and the feet should be soaked in this medicine. Coffee will relieve pain and inflammation, remove excess layers of skin. It will also perfectly help after recovery to restore the condition of the epidermis.
- Wine vinegar. This tool is an excellent antiseptic and a tool in the fight against bacteria. At night, you can use the following method. Clean woolen socks should be kept for half an hour in vinegar, squeezed well, then put on the feet and covered with a blanket. By doing this procedure at night, in the morning you can notice a visible effect.
- Liquids. The skin affected by the fungus can be wiped with gauze soaked in lemon juice or onion. These tools may cause a burning sensation at first, but after a few minutes it will pass. Due to this, the number of bacteria decreases, fungi will not progress. You can try another treatment with ready-made tomato juice. You should choose the liquid only without salt, so that it does not deceive the skin.
- Vegetable stew. Boil calendula, verbena and oak bark in water. In this decoction, you can keep your feet or use them as creams. The components are easy to find in a pharmacy, the effectiveness of such a collection will be equal to expensive drugs. It can be used every day, both in the morning and in the evening.
- Rye flour. After foot baths, it will be useful to rub rye flour on the affected areas. It is able to absorb all bacteria and rid the skin of diseases. The main thing is to rub a small amount.
- Antiseptics. A mixture of baking soda and laundry soap will make an antiseptic at home. All this should be dissolved in warm water. Pour the resulting mixture into a basin and leave your feet there to be cleaned for half an hour.
Alternative treatment methods are useful because they have no side effects, and all the ingredients are natural ingredients.
What to do if the nail broke off
Problems with a nail with a fungus indicate a neglected state of the disease. The nail darkens, begins to melt, becomes thinner and then leaves the skin.
This state is divided into several types:
Onychosis can be identified by the fact that the nail exfoliates all over, kaylonchinia - the nail exfoliates in the middle.
Onychomodesis is when the nail peels only at the base. This is the most difficult case, because then inflammation occurs.
It is important to make sure that the nail is not irritated, because then it can be completely lost. When a man's nail is removed, he doesn't notice it at first. Only with an infection does pain and inflammation appear.
The following symptoms will indicate that the exfoliation of the nails came from the fungus:
- a void is formed under the nail;
- the nail acquires a yellow tint;
- severe itching appears, but you should not tear the fragile nail;
- the manifestation of pain occurs only in advanced cases of the disease.
When such a problem occurs, it is important to constantly treat the affected nail with an antiseptic, as it is open to various microbes.
You should follow the following scheme. When removing the tip with sterile scissors, cut the end. The incision site is treated with an antiseptic. After that, prepare a bath with sea salt and keep your feet for ten minutes. Lubricate the cut site with a healing agent.
You should stop painting your nails and masking the problem, this will only make the condition worse. It is also very important not to wear tight shoes. You need to make sure that the nails are not too long, because then the shoes will compress them and may eventually break.
On the feet, the spread of the fungus is quite fast, so it will move from one nail to another within a few days.
Prevention of disease onset
Avoiding the problem of fungal infection is not difficult. You need to follow some rules, then your health will be fine.
The first rule to remember is that you cannot wear someone else's shoes. After all, someone can become infected with a fungus. He tends to stay in shoes.
You can also try on shoes in the store with just socks. You should wash your feet with soap and water every day, especially in the evening after wearing shoes for a long time. You should always choose shoes according to the weather.
It is impossible to wear warm shoes in very hot weather, because the foot begins to sweat, and in a humid environment, the development of fungi increases significantly. It is important to choose socks only from natural materials, to wear them no more than once, because after wearing them they are filled with bacteria.
At any pharmacy you can find foot disinfectant sprays that you should use if you need to wear shoes all day. When visiting the pool, it is better to change your shoes and not walk barefoot on the tiles. This advice is also followed in the sauna.
At the first symptoms of fungus, treatment should be started. This disease does not go away by itself. A secondary action should not be to boost the immune system.
The skin of the feet must be taken care of. When corns appear, get rid of them immediately. If your feet suffer from excessive sweating, you should use a special foot deodorant. Any cracks and open wounds on the legs should be treated immediately and disinfected constantly.
When you get a pedicure, it's important to make sure all the tools are disinfected, especially if you get it done in a salon. If someone in the family has a fungus, it is necessary to thoroughly wash the floors and the shower. You only need to put on slippers and dry off with an individual towel.
Fungus of the skin of the feet is a disease that is better not to face. It differs in that it takes a long time for treatment, as well as a long recovery after.
A person who gets sick from a fungus, after an illness, has a high risk of getting infected with it again. To protect yourself from this, you should not only treat yourself properly, but also take preventive measures afterwards.