When it itches between the toes, we tend to wait for it to get better. You think you didn’t dry yourself well after showering or you sweated a lot. However, it is often a mycosis, due to a fungus that likes humidity. It’s not serious, but it never heals spontaneously. It can even extend.
called “athlete’s foot”, although it does not only affect athletes, this condition is contagious. We readily catch it in the summer, when walking barefoot around swimming pools, in saunas or locker rooms. We also expose ourselves to it when we often wear sports shoes, which are known to promote maceration. The culprit is a microscopic fungus of the dermatophyte family. These parasites thrive in the outermost layer of the skin, as they need keratin to ensure their survival.
First symptoms
They manifest as redness or small blisters often accompanied by itching. Then the skin begins to peel. The scales are deposited on the ground, favoring the contamination of other feet that pass by. Contagion is also common in families through bath mats and hand towels.
Healing is easier to obtain today, because treatments have become much simpler. A cream allowing a treatment in one week is now on sale. Latest progress to date: an antifungal solution requiring only one application (Lamisilate® single dose 1%*). But both feet should be treated, between and around the toes, then over the entire arch and sides. The only constraint: do not wash your feet or wet them within the next twenty-four hours.
Avoid recurrences
It is advisable to disinfect shoes worn barefoot with an antifungal powder and to wash any sources of contamination at 60°C (towels, bath mats). In case of excessive sweating, it is better to use antiperspirant powders. But the main thing is to dry the spaces between the toes well after showering.
With the collaboration of Dr Feuilhade de Chauvin, dermatologist
To find out more about cutaneous mycosis with EurekaSanté, the general public medical site published by VIDAL.
