In the minds of many, fungal patients are often associated with tidiness, carelessness, and dirt. This stereotype is not entirely true. In the modern world, even the most pedantic purity is not immune to a fungal infection. In addition, a person who leads an active and healthy lifestyle is at greater risk of catching it than a classic sofa. If the skin between the toes becomes red, peeled and cracked, the nails turn yellow and crumble, and the unbearable itching does not go away in a minute, you are likely to have fungus.
Routes of infection
Medical statistics say that every 4-5th person on our planet has mycosis of the toes. The risk of infection exists everywhere: in the pool, sauna, gym, public shower, shoe store, on the beach and even your own shoes often become an excellent environment for living and active reproduction of the fungus.
Walking barefoot, wearing foreign or wet shoes, sharing personal hygiene items (towels, manicure and pedicure tools), dirty socks, excessive sweating, degenerative foot disease, overweight, circulatory disorders - these and other factors directly or indirectlylead to a fungal infection.
Healthy nails are virtually invulnerable to fungus, while nail plates altered by some traumatic factor are easy prey for it. The same happens with the skin - the microscopic cracks on it become a gateway for infection.
The infection is most often caused by fungal parasites called dermatophytes, less commonly by yeasts and molds. The fungus on the toes of men and women is equally painful. The risk of infection increases with age. Thus, children are victims of this parasite relatively rarely, while every second adult after 70 years is its active carrier.
The first manifestations of fungus on the toes
In most cases, the lesion of the feet with a fungal infection proceeds gradually according to the following pattern:
- between the toes the first signs are observed in the form of peeling skin, burning and itching;
- the skin reacts to the infection by forming blisters, after a while they crack;
- cracks and grooves appear at the site of the bubbles; the itching intensifies;
- falling on the nails, the fungus actively multiplies, gradually penetrates the nail plate, slowly and for a long time destroys it;
- the plate thickens, exfoliates, disintegrates, acquires unnatural jaundice.
Dermatophyte fungi appear as bright yellow spots or streaks closer to the edges of the nail. Over time, the infection moves to its central part, the skin in the interdigital area cracks and severe itching is felt. Yeast fungi feed on the nail plate, thinning it on the sides. As a result, waves, furrows, cracks appear, the nail turns yellow and separates from its bed. First, the yeast attacks the folds of the nails. They turn red, thicken and swell, and silver scales appear at the edges. It is possible to attach a secondary bacterial infection with subsequent heating. The shapes superficially affect the nails, changing their hue from yellow and green to brown and even black. These fungi are especially active in conditions of impaired nutrition of the nail plates.
Why do not hesitate to visit a doctor?
Treatment should be started as early as possible. It is best to do this before the infection, which is usually located first between the toes, spreads to the nail plate. Seeking early medical care ensures faster healing and healthier nails.
Mycologist deals with the treatment of various fungal skin lesions (mycoses). Doctors of this profile are difficult to find in public clinics. In the absence of such you can consult a dermatologist. The task of the specialist is to assess the extent and depth of the lesion, to take a scraping of tissue to determine the presence and type of fungus, to prepare a competent therapeutic scheme.
Before starting treatment, it is necessary to perform disinfection actions, which include treatment of all shoes with vinegar or formalin solution. The bad smell of these products makes them uncomfortable to use. To solve the problem, you can buy a special device at the pharmacy that disinfects shoes with the help of ultraviolet rays.
Traditional treatment of fungus on the toes
Toe fungus can be treated with topical, systemic or combination therapy.
Each treatment includes the use of antifungals (antifungals):
- Topical treatment (ointments, creams, sprays). Antifungals for external use and other drugs with the active ingredient clotrimazole, naftifine hydrochloride, ketoconazole, terbinafine hydrochloride or bifonazole. In case of minor damage to the nail plate, the use of antifungal varnishes is recommended. Varnishes are applied throughout the year, gradually reducing the frequency of use (from 4 to 1 times a week). Topical remedies effectively relieve itching and burning, reduce flaking, cracks in the skin between the toes, but are not able to completely cure the disease.
- Systemic therapy: general antifungals. Such treatment is appropriate in case of complete damage to the nail plate. But there are some contraindications to systemic antifungal drugs: they can not be taken by pregnant and lactating women, people suffering from kidney and liver disease and young children.
- Complete treatment. Includes local and systemic therapy.
Patients often complain about the ineffectiveness of traditional therapy and resort to folk remedies. Against the background of such complaints, the opinion is formed that the fungus on the feet is an incurable disease, it is only possible to temporarily eliminate its symptomatic manifestations (itching, scaling, cracks). Why is there patient dissatisfaction? Everything is very simple. In fact, curing the fungus is difficult, but possible. The main thing is to adhere to the principles of regularity and duration. It is very important to do all the therapeutic activities every day and not to interrupt what you have started halfway. You need to be prepared for long-term treatment (usually 3-12 months), which makes sense to do until new healthy nails grow back. In advanced cases, it is necessary to remove the affected nail plates and only then wait for the appearance of new ones.
Treatment of fungus on the toes with folk remedies
Recipes of traditional medicine are very effective in eliminating or reducing the severity of such manifestations of the fungus as itching, burning, cracking, peeling and redness of the skin between the toes. Some patients claim to have been able to completely cure the disease using exclusively folk remedies.
So to deal with the fungus:
- Soak your feet with apple cider vinegar, wine vinegar or table vinegar.
- apply 1 drop of iodine on each nail twice a day;
- wipe your skin and nails with salicylic ointment;
- wash your feet with laundry soap;
- make compresses of garlic and oil;
- lubricate the affected skin with a mixture of garlic juice, alcohol (1 tablespoon each) and water (2 tablespoons);
- treat the affected areas with an alcoholic tincture of propolis.
According to reviews, garlic and propolis are especially effective in fighting fungus. It is important to understand that the duration of treatment with folk remedies has its limits. If within 3 months the skin cracks and does not acquire the same appearance, it makes sense to seek help from traditional medicine.
Despite the good effectiveness of folk remedies and the success of modern pharmaceuticals in inventing new effective drugs, athlete's foot today remains the most common fungal disease. However, it is gratifying that in the last 20-30 years the number of successfully cured patients has been decreasing every year.