What to do about athlete's foot

I believe that everyone is still relatively unfamiliar with tinea pedis, but if we talk about athlete's foot, then everyone must know it. Tinea pedis is a very common disease of the foot skin. The occurrence of tinea pedis not only affects our body, but also brings trouble to our lives. Since tinea pedis is easily contagious, we must pay attention to the prevention of tinea pedis. Let’s take a look at the introduction to tinea pedis below.

Although athlete's foot is easily contagious, it can be prevented as long as we pay attention to personal hygiene and keep the skin dry, pay attention to our diet, avoid eating foods that easily cause sweating, and maintain an optimistic attitude.

Tinea pedis (commonly known as "athlete's foot" or athlete's foot) is caused by fungal infection. The skin damage often occurs on one side (i.e. one foot) first, and then infects the other side after several weeks or months. Blisters mainly appear on the soles and sides of the toes, most commonly between the third and fourth toes, and can also appear on the soles of the feet. They are deep small blisters that can gradually merge into large blisters. A characteristic of the skin lesions of tinea pedis is that they have clear boundaries and can gradually expand outward. As the disease progresses or scratching occurs, erosion, exudation, or even bacterial infection and pustules may occur.

1. Those with erosion and exudation between toes

Do not use any strongly irritating medications externally. It is best to allow the wound to dry and astringent before applying medication. You can apply a 1:8000 potassium permanganate solution as a wet compress, then apply external oil or powder, and after the skin is dry, switch to creams or ointments such as terbinafine hydrochloride.

2. If the skin is severely keratinized and thickened, antifungal drugs are difficult to penetrate and absorb

You can first use 10% salicylic acid ointment or compound benzoic acid ointment to soften the cuticle, and then use antifungal drugs. If the skin is obviously dry and cracked, you can soak it in warm water each time to soften the cuticle, and then use antifungal drugs. For those with obvious dry and cracked skin, you can apply ointment locally after soaking in warm water each time, then seal it with plastic film and wrap it with a bandage. Remove it after 24 to 48 hours and then use antifungal drugs.

3. Small blisters on the feet that have not broken

You can first soak it in 3% boric acid solution, and then use antifungal creams such as bifonazole cream.

4. Tinea pedis combined with bacterial infection, in principle, should be treated with local antibacterial agents first

You can use furacilin solution or 1:2000 berberine solution for wet compress. For severe infection, you can take antibiotics orally, such as cephalexin capsules, erythromycin, etc.

5. Systemic treatment

For stubborn tinea pedis, oral medications can be given if there are no contraindications. Such as terbinafine, itraconazole, fluconazole, etc. These oral medications are effective, but attention should be paid to their possible side effects and they should not be used by people with poor liver function.

6. Take your medication consistently

Tinea pedis is a chronic infection in which fungi grow and multiply in the stratum corneum and require long-term medication to completely eliminate it. Therefore, after the symptoms of tinea pedis are relieved, you still need to continue taking the medication. The skin's metabolic cycle is about 28 days, so the medication must be taken for more than four weeks. It is best to conduct fungal examination and culture, and it is considered cured only if the results are negative for three consecutive weeks.

7. Don’t abuse medication

The most important thing about using medicine for tinea pedis is to carry out consistent and regular treatment according to the classification. Do not blindly treat the disease on your own, as this often delays and worsens the condition.

8. Medication should be based on the specific conditions of the disease

Tinctures should not be used on broken areas, and ointments should be used on thickened skin and cracks.

9. When tinea pedis is secondary infected, acute inflammation occurs locally

It cannot be treated according to general tinea pedis treatment, and the secondary infection should be dealt with first. If there is redness or swelling, apply boric acid water or furazolidone liquid for cold or warm compress locally. If necessary, antibiotics should be applied systemically and you should rest properly as instructed by the doctor.

Above we introduced what athlete's foot is. We know that athlete's foot is actually what we often call Hong Kong's foot. Athlete's foot is harmful to our body, so we must do a good job of preventing athlete's foot. The above article introduced in detail a variety of methods to treat athlete's foot. Now we should know what to do with athlete's foot.