In the minds of many, patients with fungus are often associated with untidiness, slovenliness, and dirt. This stereotype is not entirely true. In the modern world, even the most pedantic cleanliness is not immune from fungal infection. Moreover, a person leading an active and healthy lifestyle is more at risk of catching it than a classic couch potato. If the skin between the toes turns red, peels and cracks, the nails turn yellow and crumble, and the unbearable itching does not leave for a minute, it is likely that you have a fungus.
Infection routes
Medical statistics say that every 4-5th person on our planet is sick with 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 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 diseases of the feet, excess weight, circulatory disorders - these and other factors directly or indirectly lead to infection with fungalinfection.
Healthy nails are practically invulnerable to fungus, while 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, infection is caused by fungal parasites called dermatophytes, less often by yeasts and molds. Fungus of the toes of men and women are equally ill. The risk of infection increases with age. Thus, children become victims of this parasite relatively rarely, while every second adult after 70 years is its 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 pattern:
- the first signs in the form of peeling of the skin, burning and itching are observed between the toes;
- the skin reacts to the infection with the formation of bubbles, after a while they crack;
- cracks and grooves appear in the place of the bubbles; itching intensifies;
- getting on the nails, the fungus actively multiplies, gradually penetrates into the nail plate, slowly and for a long time destroying it;
- the plate thickens, exfoliates, crumbles, acquires an unnatural yellowness.
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. Yeast fungi feed on the nail plate, thinning it from the sides. As a result, waves, furrows, cracks appear, the nail turns yellow and separates from its bed. First, 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 shade from yellow and green to brown and even black. These fungi are especially active in conditions of impaired nutrition of the nail plates.
Why can't you hesitate to visit a doctor?
Treatment should be started as early as possible. It is good if this happens before the infection, which is usually localized first between the toes, spreads to the nail plate. Seeking early medical attention ensures faster healing and healthy nails.
A mycologist is engaged in the treatment of various fungal skin lesions (mycoses). Doctors of this profile are difficult to find in state clinics. If it is not available, you can consult a dermatologist. The task of a specialist is to assess the degree and depth of the lesion, take 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 inconvenient to use. To solve the problem, you can purchase a special device at the pharmacy that disinfects shoes using ultraviolet rays.
Traditional treatment for toe fungus
Toe fungus can be treated with local, systemic, or combination therapy.
Any treatment involves the use of antimycotics (antifungal agents):
- Local treatment (ointments, creams, sprays). Antimycotics 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 varnishes. Varnishes 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 flaking, cracked skin between the toes, but are not able to completely cure the disease.
- Systemic therapy: general antimycotics. Such treatment is appropriate in case of complete damage to the nail plate. But there are certain contraindications to systemic antifungal drugs: they cannot be taken by pregnant and lactating women, people suffering from renal and hepatic diseases, and young children.
- Comprehensive 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 foot fungus is an incurable disease, it is only possible to temporarily remove its symptomatic manifestations (itching, peeling, cracks). Why is the patient's dissatisfaction observed? Everything is very simple. In fact, completely curing a 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 interrupt what you started halfway through. You need to be ready for long-term treatment (usually 3-12 months), which makes sense to carry out until the time when 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 toe fungus 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, flaking 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 to each nail twice a day;
- wipe your 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 alcohol 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 traditional medicine.
Despite the good effectiveness of treatment with folk remedies and the success of modern pharmaceuticals in the invention of new effective drugs, mycosis of the feet today remains the most common fungal disease. Nevertheless, it is gratifying that over the past 20-30 years the number of patients who have been successfully cured has been decreasing every year.