In the minds of many, patients with a fungus are often associated with clutter, sloppiness, and dirt. This stereotype is not entirely true. In the modern world, even the most pedantic cleaning is not immune to fungal infection. Furthermore, a person who leads an active and healthy lifestyle is more at risk of taking it than a classic couch potato. If the skin between your fingers turns red, peels and cracks, your nails yellow and crumble, and the unbearable itch doesn't go away for a minute, chances are you have a fungus.
Routes of infection
Medical statistics say that every 4-5 person on our planet is sick with mycosis of the toes. 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 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 lead directly or indirectly to infection with fungal infection.
Healthy nails are practically invulnerable to fungi, while the nail plates, altered under the influence of some traumatic factor, are easy prey for him. The same happens with the skin: microscopic cracks on it become an entrance gate for infection.
Most often, the infection is caused by fungal parasites called dermatophytes, less often by yeasts and molds. Toe fungi of men and women are equally sick. The risk of infection increases with age. Therefore, children become victims of this parasite relatively rarely, while one in two adults after the age of 70 is its active carrier.
The first manifestations of the big toe fungus
In most cases, the lesion of the feet with a fungal infection occurs gradually according to the following scheme:
- the first signs are observed in the form of peeling of the skin, burning and itching between the toes;
- the skin reacts to the infection with the formation of bubbles, after a while they crack;
- cracks and grooves appear in place of bubbles; itching intensifies;
- getting on the nails, the fungus actively multiplies, gradually penetrates the nail plate, destroying it slowly and for a long time;
- the dish thickens, exfoliates, crumbles, acquires an unnatural yellow.
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 region cracks and severe itching is felt. Yeast fungi feed on the nail plate, thinning it from the sides. As a result, waves, grooves, cracks appear, the nail turns yellow and separates from its bed. First, the yeast attacks the nail folds. They turn red, thicken and swell, silvery scales appear along the edges. It is possible to attach a secondary bacterial infection with subsequent suppuration. Molds superficially affect the nails, changing their hue 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 visit a doctor?
Treatment should be started as soon as possible. It is good if this happens before the infection, which is usually located first between the toes, spreads to the nail plate. Seeking prompt medical attention ensures faster healing and healthier nails.
A mycologist is engaged in the treatment of various fungal skin lesions (mycosis). Doctors of this profile are difficult to find in state clinics. In the absence of it, you can consult a dermatologist. The task of a specialist is to assess the degree and depth of the lesion, perform a tissue scraping to determine the presence and type of fungus, draw up a competent therapeutic scheme.
Before starting treatment, it is necessary to carry out disinfection actions, which include treating 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 using ultraviolet rays.
Traditional treatment for toe fungus
Foot fungus can be treated with local, systemic or combined therapy.
Any treatment involves the use of antifungals (antifungal agents):
- Local 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, it is recommended to use antifungal paints. Paints are applied throughout the year, gradually reducing the frequency of use (from 4 to 1 times a week). Local remedies effectively relieve itching and burning, reduce peeling, cracking of 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 cannot 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 lack of effectiveness of traditional therapy and resort to treatment with folk remedies. Against the background of such complaints, the opinion has formed that foot fungus is an incurable disease, it is only possible to temporarily remove its symptomatic manifestations (itching, peeling, cracks). Why is patient dissatisfaction observed? Everything is very simple. Indeed, completely curing a fungus is difficult, but possible. The main thing is to adhere to the principles of regularity and durability. It is very important to do all therapeutic activities every day and not interrupt what you started halfway through. You need to be ready for a long-term treatment (usually 3-12 months), which makes sense to perform until such time as 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.
Foot fungus treatment with folk remedies
Traditional medicine recipes 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 that they were 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;
- cleanse the skin and nails with salicylic ointment;
- wash your feet with laundry soap;
- make garlic and butter compresses;
- lubricate the affected skin with a mixture of garlic juice, alcohol (1 tablespoon each) and water (2 tablespoons);
- treat the affected areas with alcoholic tincture of propolis.
According to reviews, garlic and propolis are especially effective in the fight against fungi. It is important to understand that the duration of treatment with folk remedies has its limitations. If within 3 months the skin cracks and does not acquire the same appearance, it makes sense to seek the help of traditional medicine.
Despite the good effectiveness of treatment with folk remedies and the success of modern drugs in the invention of new effective drugs, mycosis of the feet today remains the most common fungal disease. However, it is gratifying that over the past 20-30 years the number of patients who have been successfully treated has decreased every year.