What to do When You Have Athleteâ€™s Foot

Posted on: Wed 08-03-2017

Athlete’s foot is a fungal infection of the foot which causes peeling, redness, itching, burning, and sometimes blisters and sores.

It is a common infection especially among people who keep their foot moist. The fungus grows best in a warm, moist environment such as shoes, socks, swimming pools, locker rooms, and the floors of public showers.

It occurs more often in people who wear tight shoes or always wear socks. During the heat period, people find it unbearable to stay around sufferers when they remove their shoes.

Dr Olanrewaju Falodun, a consultant dermatologist with the National Hospital, Abuja said, it is a fungi infection of the feet which affects everybody irrespective of gender but common with athletes hence, the name athlete’s foot and medically called Tinea Pedis.

He said it usually comes in various ways; it may start as a mild itch, as a patch which could be scaly, and as blisters which if not treated can turn to a wound on the feet. It may also affect one foot or both feet depending on the degree to mention a few.

Dr Falodun categorised those that are at risk of the infection as people who walk bare footed in public places, people who use swimming pool, people who walk in the theaters, athletes and members of the armed forces that are always on boots and socks.

He condemned sharing of items such as; shoes, socks and towel and advised that an individual have his personal belongings instead of using that of others.

With the growing fashion of having to visit the saloon for pedicure and manicure, the fungi is said to be easily contracted through the process involved in such clean up.

“If the people doing it, don’t clean their tools properly, the causative fungi could be transferred from one person to the other when using the same tools on them. People that sleep on the same bed are also at great risk because they have body contact,” he said.

According to him, it is a myth saying athlete’s foot is a ‘man’ diseases.

“it affects both men and women, it affects anyone that keep moist feet irrespective of gender.

“Though it could be more pronounced in men because they wear more tighter shoes than women. Women wear more of opened shoes than the men and we notice most time that women’s shoes are better aerated than that of men. But men wear tight shoes, wear shoes often and they do so for longer period thereby making them to be at greater risk than their women counterpart. Anything that makes people’s feet to sweat for a long period of time makes the person to be at risk,”he said.

He also explained further that if it is not properly treated it could lead to fungi infection of the hands because the hands often go to the legs.

While speaking on the link between smelly foot and athlete’s foot he said, though athlete foot can make the feet to smell however, it is not every time that you see people with smelly foot that the person is suffering from athletes foot, adding that some people sweat a lot and they don’t change their socks often, wash or air their shoes thereby making their feet to smell.

“Some even wear socks for like a week.For those that have a recurrent athlete foot, it’s likely that the fungi agents are most likely already in their shoes and it is advisable for the person to change the shoes if he or she can afford or simply spread them in the sun from time to time. We air them so that the heat of the sun can dry them. For those doing sports, after using the shoes, wash and spread them out in the sun to be aerated,” he said.

For those suffering from athlete’s foot infection he said, there is hope because it is curable with the right treatment and depending on the situation.

He added that there were some anti-fungi creams and tablets that can be used to cure it.

“We have patients that have been cured but most patients don’t use the right medication and they are not patient enough,” he said.

Dr Falodun said people should go for proper diagnosis before applying any medication adding that, the fact that certain drugs worked for someone does not mean it would work on you.

“Some of these drugs don’t just work for every kind of fungi infection. There are times, it will work and there are times it may not. We should note that, it is not everything that appears like a scale on the foot that is athlete’s foot and that is the mistake people make. There are some that may appear like athlete’s foot on the feet but they are allergic contact dermatitis, and it is the duty of a dermatologist to diagnose that,” he said.

He further said that there are sometimes one needs to go for a simple test, Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) to be able to identify the fungi infection.

“That is why it is wrong for someone to just take any drug without seeing a specialist. Every drug has a kind of side effect no matter how minimal,” he added.

Source: Dailytrust

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