A useful manual for fungal infections on skin with everything you need to know to spot and treat them as soon as possible.
Fungal skin infections are common in sweaty or damp locations with little airflow because fungi flourish in warm, moist settings. The foot, groin, and skin folds are other examples.
This article will expose the most common skin infections and their causes, as well as recommended treatments and when to see a doctor for a specialized solution.
What Is A Skin Infection?
A fungus, such as a mold or mildew, is a microscopic creature. Fungi can be found in the air, water, and in people’s bodies. Approximately 50% of all fungi are hazardous. Fungal infections might occur if one of the hazardous fungi settles on your skin. You may get a rash or become itchy.
Fungal skin infections are common in sweaty or damp locations with little airflow because fungi flourish in warm, moist settings. The foot, groin, and skin folds are other examples. These infections frequently manifest as a scaly rash or discoloration of the skin that is itchy.
Although the illness might be bothersome and inconvenient, it is usually not dangerous. Direct touch is a common way for fungal skin diseases to spread. Coming into contact with fungi on clothing or other goods, or on a human or animal, is one example.
Types Of Fungal Infection On Skin
Skin infections caused by fungi can occur anywhere on the body. Athlete’s foot, jock itch, ringworm, and yeast infections are among the most frequent.
Tinea pedis, popularly known as athlete’s foot, is a fungal infection of the foot. Warm, damp environments, such as shoes, socks, swimming pools, locker rooms, and public showers, are ideal for the fungi to thrive. In the summer and in hot, humid settings, they’re common. People who wear tight shoes, don’t change their sweaty socks and utilize public baths and pools are more likely to get it.
Jock itch is caused by a fungus called tinea (tinea cruris is another name for the infection) that likes regions that are warm and moist, such as your genitals, inner thighs, and buttocks. Infections are more likely to occur during the summer or in warm, humid settings. Jock itch is a rash that is usually ring-shaped and is red and itchy.
Ringworm, commonly known as tinea corporis, is a fungal skin ailment, not a worm, that gets its name from a ring-shaped rash with a worm-like border. Direct contact with infected individuals or animals can spread the virus. It’s also possible to get it via clothing or furnishings. Heat and humidity can help the virus spread too.
Finally, cutaneous candidiasis is a yeast infection of the skin. When candida, a form of fungus, grows too much, it causes various ailments. Yeast infections are not spreadable. Warm, moist, wrinkled parts of your body, such as your armpits and groin, are the most prevalent sites for infections. Obese or diabetic people are more likely to experience them.
Skin Fungal Infection Possible Causes
When your skin comes into contact with a hazardous fungus, it might become infected, resulting in a rash. If you borrowed a pair of shoes from someone with athlete’s foot, for example, the fungus could infect your foot. By direct touch, rashes can spread from person to person or animal to animal.
Is A Skin Infection Contagious?
Depending on the type of skin infection you might have, it can or can’t become contagious. For example, you can catch athlete’s foot on public pools or locker rooms (warm and moist places where the fungus develops) as well as by not changing your socks when needed, this can also mean you can spread the fungus to other people if coming in contact with their skin on their feet.
As for jock itch, it can be spread directly from person to person or indirectly through objects that have fungus on them. When it comes to ringworm, direct contact with infected individuals or animals can transmit it.
Skin Fungal Infection Treatment
Fungal infections are treated with antifungal medicines. They have the ability to either kill or prevent fungi from growing and prospering. Some great medications include:
- Lotrimin. An antifungal drug that treats vaginal yeast infections, oral thrush, diaper rash, tinea versicolor, and ringworm infections such as athlete’s foot and jock itch.
- Tinactin. Athlete’s foot, jock itch, and ringworm are among skin illnesses that can be treated with this medication. It’s an antifungal that works by stopping fungus from growing.
- Tolnaftate. Another excellent antifungal that stops the fungus from growing. It can also be used to prevent the recurrence of athlete’s foot in some cases.
When To See A Doctor For A Skin Infection
Many types of fungal skin infections respond to over-the-counter fungal medications and improve over time. If you have a fungal skin infection that doesn’t improve, gets worse, or returns after OTC treatment; notice patches of hair loss with itchiness or scaly skin; have a weakened immune system and suspect a fungal infection; or have diabetes and suspect onychomycosis, call your doctor.
