Tinea corporis is a ringworm that occurs in the groin, upper inner thighs, and vulva. The most common site is the skin of the thigh opposite the scrotum. The damage starts as a small patch of papules that are red in color and may have small scales on the surface. The rash then expands and gradually spreads in all directions, forming a ring or semi-ring-shaped patch. It usually worsens in the summer and the lesions decrease significantly in the winter.
Ringworm is caused by a fungus, so like other ringworm diseases, there must be an environment suitable for the fungus to grow and multiply, as well as a source of the fungus, i.e., an infectious agent.
It is generally said that ringworm occurs mostly in men because the inner part of the femur is close to the scrotum, especially in obese people, and the secretions and dirt on it are not easy to remove, and the local temperature is high and humid, which is very suitable for the growth and reproduction of fungi, so men are prone to ringworm. Women rarely suffer from ringworm, but if they are overly obese and have a lot of skin folds on the vulva and inside of the femur, sweating is a favorable condition for fungal growth if they do not pay attention to cleaning. This is why ringworm can also occur in women.
In addition, the occurrence of ringworm is also related to the lowering of the body’s resistance. If you are bedridden and weak, especially those who have diabetes, malignant tumors and long-term use of corticosteroids or immunosuppressants, you are more likely to develop ringworm than healthy people. Of course, it does not necessarily mean that ringworm will occur if you are weak; there must be a fungal infection. The fungus for tinea cruris comes mainly from tinea pedis, either from yourself or from someone else.
What should I pay attention to when treating ringworm?
1. Eliminate infectious factors Since ringworm is mostly caused by other ringworm of your own, it is important to treat ringworm of other areas such as ringworm of the head, ringworm of the hands, and ringworm of the feet at the same time as treating ringworm of the body. It is also important to avoid contact with other people or animals with ringworm, otherwise ringworm can recur due to reinfection with fungus even after treatment.
2, adhere to the correct medication Many drugs can treat ringworm, but some patients change all kinds of drugs but still can not cure it, mainly because of improper methods. It is easy to treat ringworm with topical medication, but you must insist on applying the medication 2 to 3 times a day, and the scope of the application should be slightly larger than the area of the skin lesion, and you should insist on it for a while even if the rash subsides and itching is not obvious. Never three days to fish and two days to sunbathe, as if the grass did not get rid of the root, although the condition can be temporarily relieved, but encounter the right conditions will be the spring wind blowing again.
3, avoid using corticosteroid ointment That is to say, you can not apply hormonal drugs. Corticosteroid ointments such as skin relaxation ointment, dexamethasone ointment, betamethasone ointment and some herbal ointments containing hormones can be used for many allergic skin conditions such as eczema, contact dermatitis, and neurodermatitis with good results. However, ringworm is caused by fungus, and hormones cannot kill the fungus, but instead can promote its growth and reproduction, making ringworm develop faster and more seriously. This is why topical medications should not be abused at will either.
If ringworm occurs due to low body resistance caused by some systemic disease, it should be treated actively to strengthen the resistance. If ringworm is caused by long-term use of corticosteroids or immunosuppressants, these drugs should be used as little or as often as the condition allows.
If the rash of ringworm is widely distributed, you can use internal antifungal drugs such as ashwagandha and ketoconazole in addition to topical drugs. However, these drugs have certain side effects, such as liver and kidney damage, so you should take them under the guidance of a doctor and have your liver function checked regularly during treatment.
Fungi exist widely in nature, therefore, people will inevitably come into contact with them in their work and life. Among all fungi, some are beneficial to humans, such as edible fungi and medicinal fungi, but some can cause diseases. For example, tinea pedis, which makes many people’s feet painfully itchy, or what is commonly referred to as foot fungus, is caused by medical fungi. People often don’t pay much attention to tinea pedis, thinking that it’s not a life-threatening disease, and as a result, it worsens and even causes secondary infections. So, what can we do to keep our feet healthy and resistant to fungal attacks?
FD:It seems that more and more people are suffering from tinea pedis these days, so why is this happening?
Currently, there are as many people suffering from tinea pedis in our country as in other countries, and although comprehensive statistics are not yet available, it is at least safe to say that the proportion of people who develop tinea pedis has become more than half of the population, which means that there are about 600 million or more people suffering from tinea pedis in our country, with more men than women. Why do so many people suffer from tinea pedis? Because the pathogenic fungi of tinea pedis are superficial fungi such as Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton spp. They exist widely in the natural environment and people have many opportunities to come into contact with them, such as wearing public slippers and using public towels in baths and hotels, which can easily cause foot infections. If someone in the family has tinea pedis, it is also easy to cause intra-family transmission. People generally do not pay attention to tinea pedis, or even see it as a disease, and take an attitude of ignoring it. This aggravates the condition on the one hand and spreads it to the community on the other, resulting in more and more people suffering from tinea pedis.
Another reason is that there are many people who use antibiotics, glucocorticoids and other immunosuppressants indiscriminately in the society. When antibiotics are used indiscriminately, the flora of the body becomes dysfunctional and fungi grow and multiply, making it easy to develop tinea pedis.
FD:So that means the immune status of the body also has a great influence on tinea pedis, is that right?
Yes. For example, diabetes. The number of people with diabetes is increasing, and these people have low immune function. When the immune function is low, the body’s resistance naturally decreases, so it is easy to contract fungus and develop tinea pedis, and it is also more difficult to treat. In addition, patients with kidney transplants have very poor immune function and are also prone to developing tinea pedis.
In terms of treatment, patients with tinea pedis who have diabetes should actively treat the primary disease, i.e., diabetes, and should group first to control blood sugar within normal levels; otherwise, when diabetes is not cured, poor immune function makes it easy to develop tinea pedis and the treatment is not effective, plus when the skin itches with diabetes, tinea pedis also itches more, and if scratched it can easily cause secondary infection. Other patients who apply corticosteroids for a long time and patients such as kidney transplantation should also strengthen the treatment of tinea pedis while strengthening the treatment of the primary disease, adjusting and improving the immune function.
FD:Are there seasons for the onset of tinea pedis?
The high season for tinea pedis is summer. In summer, it is hot and humid, and your feet tend to sweat. Fungi like a warm, humid environment, so it is easy to get a fungal infection and develop tinea pedis in summer when fungi are growing and multiplying vigorously. This seasonal attack is more obvious in the north because the northern climate has four distinct seasons and the temperature is lower and drier in winter and early spring, so the feet rarely sweat and the growth and reproduction of fungi are weaker, so tinea pedis can not develop. But in the south, it is different because the weather is also hotter and more humid in spring, autumn and winter, so the seasonality of tinea pedis is not obvious. However, overall, it is still more prevalent in summer.
FD:There are many medications for tinea pedis on the market, how do patients choose?
There are generally two types of treatments for tinea pedis: topical antifungal medications and a combination of internal antifungal medications plus topical antifungal medications. For milder cases of tinea pedis, such as the new onset of tinea pedis, which tends to have a few blisters on the toes with itching, or the milder interdigital and keratosis types of tinea pedis, topical antifungal medications can be used. There are many topical medications, such as tincture of hyssop, an alcohol infusion of the Chinese medicine hyssop, which can be used for the blistering and keratotic types of tinea pedis. It is important not to use this medicine because it is irritating and can stimulate local redness, swelling and pain, which can aggravate the condition. It can be used for the blister type and keratosis type of tinea pedis, and it is best not to use it for the toe rub type. There are many emulsions and creams, such as Lanmecox cream, whose active ingredient is terbinafine; Jindacrine, whose active ingredient is ketoconazole; and Jare, whose active ingredient is boutinafine hydrochloride, and so on. There are also many compound preparations, such as paregoric pine, the active ingredient is trimethoprim plus econazole nitrate. All of these drugs, which can be used for all types of tinea pedis, have good efficacy and few side effects. A few patients may experience irritation reactions such as redness, swelling, and pain, which can subside within a few days after stopping the medication.
For keratosis pilaris and more severe forms of tinea pedis, which are difficult to cure with topical medications alone, oral antifungal medications can be added along with the topical medications.
Oral antifungal drugs such as Risulao, whose active ingredient is ketoconazole, are taken orally twice a day, two tablets at a time. The drug is effective, but it is toxic to the liver, so it should not be taken for a long time. Spironol, whose active ingredient is itraconazole. Two tablets (200 mg) are taken orally once a day in one dose. To take this drug, it is best to take it orally immediately after meals, because this drug is fat-soluble and the stomach contents have oily food after meals, so the drug is well absorbed and improves its efficacy. Lymeclopride, the active ingredient of which is terbinafine, is taken orally 1 tablet (250 mg) daily. The above drugs are imported drugs, but there are also many domestic drugs, such as domestic Itraconazole, Tinker (the active ingredient is terbinafine), etc.. These domestic drugs are relatively cheaper than the imported drugs.
Although there are many drugs available in the market for the treatment of tinea pedis, you can avoid buying them blindly by recognizing the efficacy as the first priority. Among the many topical medications, the ones with better efficacy are Lamisil cream, Garry, Jindakin, and tincture of tulip. The second is to consider the price, choose the price they can accept, do not one-sided understanding of “expensive is good”. If you choose a compound, you should switch to a single antifungal drug after about 1 week of medication is better.
FD:The most common headache for patients is the recurrence of tinea pedis, can Prof. Jin tell me if this disease cannot be cured?
Why does foot fungus recur? The reasons are many. The first reason is that the treatment is not complete, and the fungus is not killed, but only temporarily inhibited from growing and reproducing, so it is easy to cause a resurgence after stopping the medicine, and the fungus grows and reproduces again, making it easy for the foot fungus to recur. The second is that even if the foot fungus is cured, but do not pay attention to prevention, such as do not pay attention to personal hygiene, to public places do not pay attention to prevention, coupled with the fungus distribution is very wide, easy to cause reinfection and foot fungus. The third is that people do not pay attention to the foot fungus, ignore it and do not treat it, so it may be light in winter and heavy in summer, and it is more likely to recur in summer.
FD:What are the serious consequences of untreated foot fungus?
If foot odor is left untreated for a long time, it can cause self-infection, such as ringworm, ringworm, ringworm of the body, nail fungus, etc. If the foot odor is not treated in time, it can also cause lymphangitis in the affected limb or even sepsis, which can be life-threatening and require hospitalization. If foot fungus is left untreated for a long time, it can easily cause intra-family transmission. There are many cases where one person in a family has tinea pedis and other members of the family are infected, and it is especially important to prevent it in infants and children. In one case, a mother with tinea pedis used her footbath to bathe her two-month-old child, and a month after the mother and child shared a bath, the baby developed ringworm on the top of the head, and the lesion was as large as 10 centimeters in diameter.
FD:Are there any effective measures to prevent tinea pedis? What should I pay attention to in my daily life? Are there any dietary precautions?
Prevention should be the main focus of any disease, and the same should be true for tinea pedis; it is better to treat it than not to have it. How to prevent it? First of all, you should pay attention to personal hygiene and insist on washing your feet every day. If you wash your feet every day, you can remove sweat and other unclean substances from your feet, and the fungus contained in these substances will be washed away, which will reduce the chance of infection. The second is to wash socks regularly. Because foot sweat, dust, dirt, etc. mixed together on the socks, but also easy to parasitize fungus, therefore, it is best to change and wash socks every day. The third is best to wear breathable shoes in summer to reduce foot sweating. Fourthly, it is best to use slippers and footbaths within the family to reduce the chance of family infection. The fifth is to pay attention to prevention in public places, such as slippers, foot towels and other items should be dedicated. In addition, patients suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes, to actively treat the original disease, enhance physical fitness, improve resistance, immunity. Another point is that once you have foot fungus, it should be treated formally in time to avoid aggravation of the condition and also to reduce the source of infection. As for eating habits, they have little to do with tinea pedis and there is no need to restrict the diet in particular.
How do I use topical medication for tinea pedis?
It is usually applied once a day in the morning and once in the evening. When applying the medicine, in addition to using it on the diseased area, that is, the lesion, the normal skin within 1 cm of the lesion should also be coated with the medicine. Why? Because the normal skin within 1 cm of the lesion is also host to the fungus that causes tinea pedis. Japanese fungal experts and we have isolated the same pathogenic fungus from the normal skin within 1 cm of the lesion as the pathogenic fungus in the lesion. Therefore, even if you are temporarily cured of tinea pedis by applying only to the lesion, the fungus in the skin around it is not destroyed, and it is easy for tinea pedis to recur.
Special attention needs to be paid to the treatment of tinea pedis
To treat tinea pedis, it is best to see a dermatologist and treat it under his or her guidance, rather than buying your own medication for topical use. It is especially important to be vigilant not to use irritating medications for interdigital eruption type of tinea pedis, as such medications irritate the eruption and make the condition worse, often causing secondary infections. When tinea pedis is infected, topical antifungal medications should never be used locally. This is because antifungal topical medications can irritate the tinea pedis infection locally, causing the condition to worsen and instead aggravate the infection, which can also cause a ringworm rash. How should a tinea pedis infection be treated? First of all, systemic application of antimicrobial agents is necessary. In patients who are not allergic to penicillin, penicillin-like drugs can be administered intravenously, while the infection is localized with a wet compress of a solution of levulnur, avoiding the use of irritating drugs. It is important to follow the treatment principle of treating athlete’s foot after the infection has been cured.
Athlete’s foot is a chronic infectious skin disease caused by a superficial fungal infection of the skin of the foot. It is named after its high incidence in Hong Kong.
Why is it called athlete’s foot? This has to be pushed back to the Opium War, the British army to accept Hong Kong; these soldiers are used to living in a dry Britain, came to the hot and humid Hong Kong, everyone’s feet have gone the way? The soldiers who did not understand it were mistakenly called athlete’s foot. Later, Taiwan accepted Western medicine and accidentally translated athlete’s foot first, which caused the strange phenomenon of everyone singing “athlete’s foot, athlete’s foot, itchy and itchy” but not understanding athlete’s foot!
Hong Kong is located in a subtropical region with a hot climate and the incidence of athlete’s foot is particularly high, hence the nickname “athlete’s foot”. Why is athlete’s foot so common? There are several reasons.
Ringworm is resistant to disease and is widely present in the outside environment. Ringworm is a fungus that likes warmth and humidity, grows and multiplies vigorously in the summer, has low nutritional requirements, survives on objects such as slippers, towels, and bedding after leaving the body, and is resistant to alcohol and antibiotics, so ringworm is widespread in the outside environment, making people susceptible to athlete’s foot.
The human foot is suitable for ringworm bacteria to grow and multiply. The feet are often wrapped in shoes and socks, poorly ventilated, and prone to sweat and humidity in summer, especially when the skin of the toe seams are close to each other, and the foot sweat between them does not evaporate easily, resulting in relatively warm and moist local skin, which is conducive to the growth of ringworm bacteria.
For more than 10 years, the massive use of sulfonamide, antibiotics, and steroid hormones has disturbed the ecological balance in the body, leading to flora shutdown and easy occurrence of various fungal infections, including tinea pedis.
However, people do not pay enough attention to the prevention and treatment of tinea pedis. Many people think that tinea pedis is a “minor disease” and not much pain, so they don’t pay attention to prevention and treatment. Some people use other people’s towels or even wear other people’s shoes and socks to spread ringworm to others.
When summer comes, the climate is humid and the body sweats a lot, so athlete’s foot is more likely to occur, and people who already have athlete’s foot are more likely to have a recurrence.
The key to preventing tinea pedis is to pay attention to personal and household hygiene. Wash your feet or shower often, change your socks often, and keep your shoes and socks clean and dry. Once you have tinea pedis, it is important to treat it promptly. There are not many topical anti-fungal medications in western medicine, and some people are prone to irritation from the commonly used salicylic acid topical medications, which can aggravate the condition after application, so traditional Chinese medicine can be used to treat it, such as 20% hygroscopic vinegar dip or goat’s foot root vinegar dip. In the case of tinea pedis secondary to a bacterial infection, you can use a decoction of seven pennies each of Phellodendron, Phellodendron, and Phellodendron leaves with one liter of water, and then apply a vinegar infusion of goat’s foot root after it has dried.
Tinea pedis is commonly known as “athlete’s foot” and is prone to recurrence due to pain and itching. It is difficult to cure because of the long duration of the disease and causes great trouble for patients. For the prevention and home treatment of this disease, the reporter recently interviewed Professor Tu Shanqing, a member of the expert group of the Beijing Railway General Hospital and a dermatologist who enjoys a special allowance from the State Council and has extensive clinical experience, as well as Dr. Zhou Ping, director of the Department of Dermatology and Venereology of the Beijing Railway General Hospital.
Damp environment, fungus, impermeable shoes, dirt and dirt accumulation
Find out the culprit of tinea pedis
The incidence of tinea pedis in China is about 10%, and more people get it in the south than in the north because of the relative humidity in the south. Tinea pedis is a skin disease caused by fungal infection of the soles of the feet and their tissues, and many people are used to calling it dampness. In the early 19th century, ringworm was widespread in Hong Kong, and about 70% of Hong Kong residents had ringworm, which was also related to the humidity in Hong Kong.
The skin on the feet, like the skin on other parts of the body, is constantly metabolizing and shedding flakes at all times. If you do not wash your feet often, these flakes will be mixed with sweat and dust and accumulated in the toe seam, where warm and humid and rich in nutrients, is the ideal living paradise for fungi. If you wear shoes that are not breathable, the temperature of your feet is higher and the humidity is greater, making it more suitable for the growth and reproduction of fungus.
Tinea pedis is related to the physiological characteristics of the feet on the one hand, and the climate and special working environment on the other. In the hot summer months, especially in the warm tropics, the incidence of tinea pedis is high and the itching increases. In colder regions, tinea pedis is less common. If you have tinea pedis, the itching and flaking may be mild, and in severe cases, bacterial infections may occur, resulting in redness, swelling, and pus. When the lesions recur over time, the skin becomes thicker, rougher, and less elastic, and can easily split open and cause bleeding and pain. Tinea pedis can also infect other people, which can be very harmful.
The rest of the treatment is to take more vitamins
Don’t take tinea pedis as a minor problem
There are a lot of people who think that tinea pedis is a minor problem that doesn’t affect their daily lives and that it doesn’t matter if it is treated or not. In fact, this idea is completely wrong. Tinea pedis affects our daily lives and can easily spread to other parts of the body. Tinea pedis can lead to many complications, such as ringworm, ringworm, ringworm, and nail fungus, as well as bacterial infections such as lymphangitis and dermatitis.
When blisters appear, it is not recommended to break them because they can absorb themselves after a few days. Do not squeeze yourself, squeeze after the easy to cause bacterial infection. But large blisters, you can use a sterile syringe to suck out the water in the blisters, preferably in the hospital by a doctor.
Diet: first of all, usually eat more vitamin-rich food: vitamin B (mostly found in celery, cabbage, radish and other fresh vegetables) has the role of promoting cell regeneration. Vitamin C (mostly found in tomatoes, oranges, strawberries, cucumbers and other fresh fruits) is important to improve immune function, can help improve blood circulation and wound recovery, and can promote the absorption of vitamin B. Vitamin A (mostly found in animal liver, egg yolk) can play a role in tissue repair and stimulate the function of the immune system. Vitamin E (mostly found in meat, carrots, and seafood such as fish, shrimp, and crab) is also useful in the treatment of skin lesions. In addition, the trace element zinc can also inhibit fungus, and has a certain effect on stimulating the immune system. It’s important to be hygienic and dry to ensure that the right remedy for tinea pedis is effective.
In general, after the symptoms of tinea pedis are eliminated, the fungus will still live in the skin scales or shoes and socks, and when it encounters a humid and warm environment, the fungus will multiply again, leading to the recurrence of tinea pedis. Even if tinea pedis has been cured, it is easy to get infected again when you wear impermeable shoes and socks, use other people’s footbaths, slippers, or towels, or walk barefoot in public bathrooms, swimming pools, or on carpets for a long time.
As a result, tinea pedis has become a major feature of recurrent attacks.
In fact, tinea pedis is not very contagious, but it is easy to be infected by close contacts, and it can be avoided by paying attention to protection. If a person’s resistance is strong, he or she will not be easily infected even if he or she comes into contact with the fungus. Fungi are everywhere in nature, and if you wear stuffy clothes and sweat a lot, it is easy to get tinea pedis.
Tinea pedis can be cured, but the treatment plan differs for different types of tinea pedis. For example, the treatment plan for the erosive type is to reduce inflammation, stop itching, and dry out the foot, but the erosive type of ringworm will get worse if you use the usual creams and drops. Therefore, it is important to treat tinea pedis with the right medication, and not to follow others when you see them using a medication that is effective. In recent years, some new drugs have been introduced that have greatly improved the cure rate of tinea pedis. In addition, patients with tinea pedis should pay attention to keeping dry, some dry powder on the market, such as baby powder can be sprinkled in shoes, socks, foot seams, usually pay attention to change shoes, do not always wear a pair of shoes, so that you can release moisture.
In short, it is possible to cure tinea pedis with regular treatment, but many patients actually get better after using medication, but do not stick to it and relapse after a while. There is also a situation where a person is infected again after being cured. There are many ways to deal with fungus in clinical practice, and topical creams or drops can be used to treat tinea pedis depending on its manifestations. The key is to choose the right medication for each patient, depending on the manifestation. If you have tinea pedis, it is important to visit a dermatologist at a hospital and not to blindly treat it yourself, let alone leave it alone.
Tips to stop the itching and deodorization of tinea pedis
1. Soak in salt water: Make a salt water solution with a ratio of 2 teaspoons of salt for every 50 ml of warm water and dip your feet into this mixture for 5 to 10 minutes at a time, repeatedly, until you get better. Salt water solution helps to provide an environment unsuitable for mold growth, reduce excessive sweating.
2, pay attention to foot hygiene: raw garlic cut into small slices, put into shoes to wear a few days, these garlic juice will be absorbed by the skin. Wear sweat-absorbing socks made of cotton, so that the shoes are ventilated, and change the socks daily.
3, the right shoes: shoes should be breathable, sweat-absorbing, otherwise you will create a warm, humid living environment for mold. Do not wear the same pair of shoes for two consecutive days. After each pair of shoes, it takes at least 24 hours to dry thoroughly. And you can always let your shoes dry in the sun. If your feet sweat easily, you should change your shoes twice a day.
4, sprinkle some powder between the toes: after the shower, let the feet dry naturally before putting on shoes and socks. If you want to speed up the air dry, can be propped open toes, so that there is an interval, blow dry with a hair dryer, and then sprinkle some powder. If you are afraid of spilling the powder everywhere, you can spill the powder into a plastic bag first, and then stick your feet into the bag and dip them evenly in the powder. Chinese medicine treatment small experimental prescriptions
The first formula: for itching between the toes, peeling, long-lasting, and even cracked skin of dry ringworm.
The skin of the root of the earth hibiscus, neem 15 grams each, bitter ginseng 20 grams, ice chips 5 grams (after the next), lard 9 5 grams. First boil the above medicine and lard in a pot for half an hour, strain the dregs, add ice chips, dissolve and mix well, bottle and set aside. Use the above medicine to apply to the affected area, 2 to 3 times a day, the medicine can be used up in accordance with the above method another concoction and then use.
Recipe 2: For wet tinea pedis.
Add 65 grams of alum, pomegranate peel, white moss peel and 30 grams of bitter ginseng to a thick decoction of 1500 ml of water. Soak both feet with warm water for 20 minutes twice a day, 1 dose a day, 7 days for a course.