In the minds of many, patients with a fungus are often associated with clutter, lack of order, and filth. This stereotype is not entirely true. In the modern world, even the most pedantic cleanliness is not immune to fungal infection. In addition, a person leading an active and healthy lifestyle is more at risk of catching it than a regular couch potato. If the skin between the toes turns red, peels and cracks, the nails turn yellow and crumble, and the excruciating itchiness doesn't go away for a minute, it's likely you have a fungus.
Routes of infection
Medical statistics say that every 4 in 5 people on our planet have toe fungus. The risk of infection exists everywhere: in the swimming pool, sauna, gym, public shower, shoe store, on the beach, and even your own shoes often become an excellent environment for life and active reproduction. of the fungus.
Walking barefoot, wearing someone else's shoes or wet shoes, sharing personal hygiene items (towels, manicure and pedicure tools), dirty socks, excessive sweating, degenerative foot diseases, excess weight, circulatory disorders - these and other factors directly or indirectly lead to infection with fungal infection.
Healthy nails are practically invulnerable to fungi, while nail plates, damaged under the influence of a traumatic factor, are easy prey for him. The same thing happens with the skin - microscopic cracks become a gateway for infection.
Most often, the infection is caused by fungal parasites called dermatophytes, less often by yeasts and molds. Male and female toe fungi are also sick. The risk of infection increases with age. Thus, children are relatively rarely victims of this parasite, while one in two adults after 70 years is the active carrier.
The first manifestations of toe fungus
In most cases, the lesion of the feet with a fungal infection occurs gradually according to the following scheme:
- the first signs in the form of peeling of the skin, burning and itching are observed between the toes;
- the skin reacts to infection with the formation of bubbles, after some time they crack;
- instead of bubbles appear cracks and grooves; the itching intensifies;
- getting on the nails, the fungus actively multiplies, gradually penetrates the nail plate, slowly and long destroying it;
- the plaque thickens, exfoliates, crumbles, acquires an unnatural yellowing.
Dermatophyte fungi appear as bright yellow spots or stripes closer to the edges of the nail. Over time, the infection moves to its central part, the skin in the interdigital region cracks, and severe itching is felt. The 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, silvery scales appear along the edges. It is possible to attach a secondary bacterial infection with subsequent suppuration. Mold superficially affects nails, changing their shade from yellow and green to brown and even black. These fungi are particularly active in conditions of impaired nutrition of the nail plates.
Why don't you hesitate to see a doctor?
Treatment should be started as soon as possible. It is good that this happens before the infection, which is usually localized first between the toes, spreads to the nail plate. Early medical consultation ensures faster healing and healthier nails.
A mycologist is engaged in the treatment of various fungal skin lesions (mycoses). Doctors of this profile are difficult to find in public clinics. Otherwise, you can consult a dermatologist. The task of a specialist is to assess the degree and depth of the lesion, perform tissue scraping to determine the presence and type of fungus, establish a competent treatment regimen.
Before starting treatment, it is necessary to carry out disinfection actions, which include the treatment of all shoes with a solution of vinegar or formalin. The bad smell of these products makes them impractical 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 for toe fungus
Toe fungus can be treated with local, systemic, or combination therapy.
All treatment involves the use of antimycotics (antifungal agents):
- Local treatment (ointments, creams, sprays). Antimycotics for external use and other drugs whose active ingredient is clotrimazole, naftifine hydrochloride, ketoconazole, terbinafine hydrochloride or bifonazole. In case of minor damage to the nail plate, it is recommended to use antifungal varnishes. The varnishes are applied throughout the year, gradually reducing the frequency of use (from 4 to 1 time per week). Local remedies effectively relieve itching and burning, reduce peeling, skin cracks between the toes, but are not able to completely cure the disease.
- Systemic therapy: general antimycotics. Such treatment is suitable in case of complete damage to the nail plate. But there are some contraindications to systemic antifungals: they cannot be taken by pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with kidney and liver diseases and young children.
- Complete treatment. Includes local and systemic therapy.
Patients often complain about the lack of effectiveness of traditional therapy and resort to treatment with folk remedies. Against the background of such complaints, the opinion was formed that the foot fungus is an incurable disease, it is not possible to temporarily suppress its symptomatic manifestations (itching, peeling, cracks). Why is patient dissatisfaction noted? Everything is very simple. In fact, completely curing a fungus is difficult, but possible. The main thing is to respect the principles of regularity and duration. It is very important to do all therapeutic activities every day and not to interrupt what you have started halfway through. You need to be ready for long-term treatment (usually 3-12 months), which makes sense until healthy new nails grow back. In advanced cases, it is necessary to remove the affected nail plates, and then wait for the appearance of new ones.
Treatment of toe fungus with folk remedies
Traditional medicine recipes are very effective in eliminating or reducing the severity of manifestations of the fungus such as itching, burning, chapping, peeling and redness of the skin between the toes. Some patients claim that they were able to cure the disease completely using folk remedies exclusively.
So, to fight the fungus:
- Dip your feet in apple cider vinegar, wine vinegar, or table vinegar.
- apply 1 drop of iodine to each nail twice a day;
- wipe your skin and nails with salicylic ointment;
- wash your feet with laundry soap;
- make compresses of garlic and butter;
- lubricate the affected skin with a mixture of garlic juice, alcohol (1 tbsp each) and water (2 tbsp);
- treat affected areas with alcoholic tincture of propolis.
According to reviews, garlic and propolis are especially effective in the fight against 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 folk medicine.
Despite the good effectiveness of treatment with folk remedies and the success of modern pharmaceuticals in the invention of new effective drugs, yeast infection of the feet remains the most common fungal disease today. Nonetheless, it is encouraging that over the past 20 to 30 years, the number of successfully cured patients has declined every year.