How to treat severe athlete's foot?

TV commercials often say "one onychomycosis can infect two", which actually means that athlete's foot is contagious and is mainly caused by fungi. People with severe athlete's foot will experience itchy feet, sweaty feet, redness and swelling, pain, blisters or bullae, and foot peeling, which greatly affect people's normal walking and life. Some people say that soaking your feet in ginger water can relieve athlete's foot. Next, let's take a look at which methods can treat severe athlete's foot.

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 wet compress with 1:8000 potassium permanganate solution, 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.

Many people know that athlete's foot is contagious, so they want to treat it early for fear of affecting their family members. Now in the above introduction, we have seen targeted methods for treating various types of athlete's foot. I hope it will be helpful to everyone. Of course, in addition to the correct treatment method, friends with athlete's foot also need to maintain a good attitude, pay more attention to foot hygiene in daily life, and wear breathable shoes.