The prevalence of mycoid diseases has made them easily recognizable and treatable at an early stage. However, not everyone is familiar with the symptoms of foot fungus that indicate the beginning of an infection. After all, there are about fifty species of mushrooms alone. But there is also a wide category of skin diseases - epidermicosis. Therefore, in order to prevent the disease from becoming dangerous for the health of the body, it is necessary to study its characteristics.
General symptoms
Fungal skin infections are in the first place among the diseases that affect the epidermis. Its symptoms are quite recognizable. The main difficulty in the diagnostic process is to determine the exact type of fungal infection. This is required because each of them is resistant to a certain group of antifungal drugs. Therefore, a mandatory visit to the doctor is necessary to carry out the treatment. It is impossible to accurately identify the mycoid group without special biological research.
The following symptoms may prompt you to contact a specialist:
- Cracks in the epidermis between the toes. This is the area most at risk of fungal infection. Additional evidence of infection may include extremely dry skin, peeling feet, and pain.
- Noticeable thickening and roughening of the skin layer. Similar symptoms are observed when a corn or dry callus occurs. But in some cases, the cause of this change is a fungus.
- Destruction of the skin, blisters. Such injuries are often first diagnosed in one leg and then appear in the other.
- Redness, itching or burning sensation of the epidermis. This set of symptoms is considered one of the main signals confirming a fungal infection. The difficulty of diagnosis in this case is that each type of mycoid causes such a set of symptoms.
- Discoloration of the nail plate.
- The appearance of an unpleasant smell in the infected area.
It is important to detect the first signs of the fungus in time, because the disease is very difficult to treat and it is easy to get infected.
Mycoid infection penetrates the body quite easily, infecting internal organs and systems. This explains the frequent recurrence of the disease in the complete absence of external provoking factors.
Medical classification
Mycosis fungoides is divided into four main forms according to their characteristic features.
Symptoms for each form of athlete's foot vary depending on what it is:
- Squamous.
- Dyshidrotic.
- intertriginous.
- "Classic" onychomycosis.
The squamous or scaly form of fungal infection is considered one of the initial stages of infection. In this case, skin lesions are observed primarily on one leg. Over time, a second infection occurs. The main symptom of the scaly form is redness of the skin, which later turns into keratinization of inflamed tissue areas. Without treatment, the squamous form turns into a dyshidrotic form.
The dyshidrotic form of mycoid infection has an obvious characteristic - the appearance of small bubbles in the affected area. After opening, the blisters become inflamed, forming a stable focus of erosion of the upper layers of the skin. The patient usually experiences severe itching, and in advanced cases it gives way to pain. The skin begins to peel and erosions are formed regularly. This form of the disease can pass into the first squamous form without any system. Therefore, some experts believe that the mentioned forms of mycosis fungi are two forms of the same infection.
The intertriginous form of infectious fungal infection is the most common. Manifestations of the disease include the appearance of cracks in the skin of the legs visible to the naked eye and the formation of eroded areas of white skin on their edges. A characteristic sign of the intertriginous form for the interdigital area is the formation of weeping spots and erosion of the epidermis. The patient constantly feels itching in the infected area. The treatment of this form of infection is complex and long-term, because the disease most often takes a chronic form.
Onychomycosis is a contagious infection, special attention is paid to its symptoms. Depending on the characteristics of the pathology, the damage to the nail plate and the type of the disease varies. There are three main types of onychomycosis:
- Hypertrophic - the nail plate gradually collapses, its color turns yellowish, and characteristic spots appear. Pain in the affected area appears after deformation of the nail.
- Normotrophic - there is no destruction or change in the shape of the nail plate, yellowish and white spots or lines appear on it.
- Atrophic is the most dangerous form of the nail plate, when it is seriously destroyed, deformed and often peels off from the nail bed.
Each form of onychomycosis has its own general treatment regimen. However, in order to completely get rid of the infection without any consequences for the body and to exclude relapses, it is recommended to carry out the treatment under the advice and supervision of a doctor.
Treatment methods
In most cases, it is possible to completely get rid of the disease detected in time within a maximum of one month. This is a very important point in the treatment, because the itching, tissue damage and other manifestations disappear, the patient sometimes stops the treatment, believing that the disease has been defeated. But the remnants of the infection can easily cause a relapse.
Treatment procedures should be stopped only after the doctor's permission and passing the necessary tests. This is especially true for advanced forms of the disease. The fungus "fixes" firmly in the body, and sometimes it can take at least six months to get rid of it. However, the external manifestation of fungus on the feet in the form of various injuries on the skin or nails disappears earlier, creating the illusion of health. In this case, stopping the therapy is almost guaranteed to cause a relapse to the patient.
Treatment of feet for mycoid infection is carried out comprehensively. To get rid of the disease, local antifungal drugs and pills are used to eliminate the infectious agent that penetrates the body. Certain medications may be prescribed to relieve itching, pain, brittle nails, and speed up tissue regeneration. In order not to cause an allergic reaction or poisoning of the body due to the simultaneous use of incompatible drugs, it is not recommended to combine them independently with the main therapeutic group.
Treating athlete's foot at an early stage is quite simple. As a rule, two weeks of therapy are enough to eliminate the symptoms of mycoid infection.
Duration of treatment
Combined infection of the skin and nail plate requires one to three months of rehabilitation therapy. These terms are considered the standard for the most medically effective pharmaceutical products.
Pregnancy requires a mandatory visit to the doctor to choose a method to get rid of mycoid infection. Strong drugs and treatments that require the use of similar drugs are prescribed only under the supervision of a doctor, observing strict dosages. Many antibacterial tablets that effectively destroy the fungus can cause significant harm to the fetus. Therefore, whenever possible, during pregnancy, patients are recommended to be treated using traditional medicine recipes. Many of them make it possible to cope with the disease, but on the condition that the disease does not reach a complicated stage. Only classical medicine can help to cope with the advanced form.
Modern medicines allow you to completely restore your feet to health within two weeks, provided that the signs of infection are detected in time.
Preventive measures
It is always easier and safer for health to prevent a disease than to treat it using even the mildest method. In the case of a fungal infection, prevention is one of the mandatory norms of life, because it is very easy to get infected. Therefore, it is recommended to follow a few simple rules to reduce the risk of contracting the disease:
- try to eat right, eat healthy foods whenever possible;
- do not use other people's things and personal hygiene products;
- use basic protective equipment in public places, such as replacement shoes and antibacterial hygiene products;
- wash your feet and change your socks regularly;
- leading a healthy lifestyle;
- Take a regular bath to improve foot health;
- Disinfect shoes periodically.
Prevention of fungal infection is important not only to prevent, but also if the disease occurs. In this case, compliance with sanitary and hygienic standards helps to speed up recovery and prevent others from being infected with the fungus.