It feels comfortable to scratch athlete's foot, but what are the disadvantages of scratching it with hands?

Many people with athlete's foot will find their feet itchy and unbearable, so they scratch the affected area with their hands. In fact, although scratching the affected area with hands can make the patient feel temporarily comfortable, in the long run, this behavior has many risks. For example, it may cause the patient to be infected with erysipelas, acute cellulitis, acute lymphangitis and other diseases. Therefore, if you suffer from athlete's foot, you must seek timely treatment. Don't just scratch it without seeking medical treatment!

1. Erysipelas

When a patient with athlete's foot is infected with beta-hemolytic streptococci, this pathogen can easily invade the medium or small lymphatic vessels through the skin of the athlete's foot lesions, causing acute inflammation of the skin and reticular lymphatic vessels, which is erysipelas.

The disease develops rapidly, initially with redness, swelling, burning and painful rashes appearing on the sole of the foot and calf on the side of the patient's athlete's foot. The rash then begins to harden, forming patches with a burning sensation, and quickly spreads to the surrounding area to become large scarlet patches.

In addition, patients with this disease often have symptoms such as high fever, chills, headache, joint pain, and general discomfort. If the disease is not treated thoroughly, it will often recur. If it persists for a long time, it can cause blockage of the lymphatic vessels in the affected skin and stagnation of lymph fluid, leading to thickening and coarsening of the skin in that area, and even secondary elephantiasis.

2. Acute cellulitis

This disease usually occurs at the lesion of athlete's foot. Because the skin at the lesion site is relatively loose, the inflammation can easily spread around and cause acute diffuse purulent inflammation, and sometimes it can also affect the fascia and even the deep muscle tissue.

The patient's affected skin generally has obvious symptoms of redness, swelling, heat and pain, and the lesions are dark red with unclear boundaries from the surrounding tissues. Such patients often have symptoms such as chills, fever, and fatigue. The inflammation can rapidly worsen, leading to local suppuration or local hemorrhagic necrosis, and may even cause sepsis and endanger the patient's life.

3. Acute lymphangitis

When the skin of the patient's athlete's foot lesion shows symptoms such as maceration, erosion, blisters or suppuration, it is easy to develop secondary bacterial infection and cause acute lymphangitis. Acute lymphangitis is an acute inflammation caused by pathogens invading the lymphatic vessels through damaged skin.

This disease often occurs on the inner side of the calf. In the early stages of the disease, symptoms such as redness, swelling, heat, and pain may appear at the site of the athlete's foot lesion. In addition, patients with acute lymphangitis often have varying degrees of chills, fever, loss of appetite, general fatigue and other symptoms.