Thanks for the ideas. I need to decide what added treatment (or treatments) I will try.
I found that soaking my feet in a mixture of warm water and apple cider vinegar 2-3 times a week not only cured my athlete’s foot, but also got rid of toenail fungus.
If it’s not burning or itching, it may not actually be athlete’s foot, which would explain why you’re not getting fully better treating it with athlete’s foot cures. Contact dermatitis spurred by your feet not coping well with a shoe material or something on your socks like the wrong detergent causes redness and peeling skin between the toes too.
I think this may actually be the problem. Of course you have not been to see a doctor or nurse practitioner.
I remember the one time I knew I had athletes foot was whenever my feet got wet - in the shower - I felt burning.
I remember using something - maybe desenex otc - and it eventually went away.
I also completely moved away from any sort of cotton sock to synthetic.
That I believe has kept it from coming back.
And yes I do power my feet before i put on my socks.
Yup, exactly.
And for sure not on your junk.
If you don’t want to see a doctor, my advice would be to talk to your pharmacist about what the most recent medical treatment is. All over the counter options are not equal, treatments evolve and are new ones are released off prescription and made OTC every couple years. The newest version is typically most effective against the broadest range of fungi (there are several different fungi that we call “athlete’s foot”.)
Usually the lowest priced is the oldest, least effective medication and the highest priced is the most recent, most effective version, but check with the pharmacist. There’s nothing wrong with starting with the cheapest option, but if that doesn’t work then you should think about jumping right to the latest version.
Lastly, you should bear in mind that not all pharmacies stock a full rename of any OTC drug. There is a big chain pharma by me with a huge selection of options and a small independent that has three only.
I had a similar problem and struggled to get rid of it for over a year. I followed all the recommendations etc meticulously. I finally went to my doctor and he prescribed a pill. (Lamasil I think, but there are newer ones now). The AF was gone within days. I finished the course of treatment and haven’t had another AF infection in 10 years.
As far as all the home remedies that “worked for me” go, I tried swinging a dead black cat counterclockwise around my head at the cemetery at midnight and many others. None worked, they’re pretty much all bullshit and a waste of time and money. For those that say they “worked for me”, you should bear in mind that about 40% of cases of AF go away on their own.
Well, no wonder. Counterclockwise is effective for lupus, and it’s never lupus.
I have been wondering if it might not be athlete’s foot also. My feet looked like the pictures of AF I found online (and I was using a camp shower bare foot), but from what I have read and seen in pictures, its appearance covers a wide range. I have worn the same synthetic socks for years. That hasn’t changed. I have used the same brand of detergent for years also.
And I wasn’t clear in my OP. I never had any symptoms between my toes. it was on the bottoms of my feet. But since it seems to have come back, I have not seen any of the signs on the bottoms of my feet, but did notice minor redness on the tops.
I ended up replying to part of this in my previous post. But here I will ask, is burning or itching always a sign of athlete’s foot?
Unless, it is.
Well that explains what happened to my lupus at any rate.
I see a LOT of self-diagnosed cases of “athlete’s foot” that aren’t. Atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, Palmoplantar pustulosis, dyshidrotic eczema, maceration, and more.
If anti-fungals don’t fix it, try a topical steroid like hydrocortisone 1% OTC. If that doesn’t work, see a doc.
No. An article I read looking up contact dermatitis said eczema between toes/on foot can itch too.
I worded it poorly. What I meant is, do all cases of athlete’s foot itch and burn?
No.
In terms of home remedies for athlete’s foot, I’ve used unfiltered solar radiation. No glass, plastic, etc between your skin and the sun, and no sunscreen on the infected areas, either. The theory is the fungus can’t withstand the radiation as well as your body. Of course, you don’t want to burn yourself, so limit the time. Anecdotally, I spread my toes in the sun for about 15 minutes a day for a week and it seemed to kill my infection.
Wash feet thoroughly, dry thoroughly then apply hydrocortisone cream which you can get from your local pharmacy.
Go bare foot as much as possible. I’m a geriatric Hca and hve seen many cases of athletes foot.
I get my patients to go bare foot as much as possible if they have A.Foot.
They think it’s odd at first going bare foot but soon grow to love it. Being bare footed is something I highly recommend.