Podiatry: Athletes Foot

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Athletes, and Athletes Foot

Athletes Foot, a minor, irritating infection of skin and nail is common, and especially common at this time of year. It is not a disease process exclusive to athletes, and may not have much to do with personal hygiene, since it can be picked up in swimming baths, showers, in fact anywhere where feet are regularly in contact with water.

What we observe as Athletes Foot, red, itchy skin, or crumbly nailplates, is actually the reaction of skin and nail tissue to a yeast or fungal infection, the yeasts and fungi themselves are present in the air around us, and invisible to the naked eye. Our feet, which are encased in shoes all day, provide exactly the right dark, damp, warm environment for fungal or yeast growth to take place.

How do I know if my itchy toes are caused by Athletes Foot?

There are several ways to identify what might be causing itchy skin on the foot. The simplest is to have your GP or podiatrist take a skin scraping for laboratory identification. This is normally sent to a central pathology laboratory where it is placed on a dish filled with culture medium (a nutrient jelly). If there are yeasts or fungi present they will grow and form a mould, which can then be tested to identify what organisms are present. Some podiatrists are starting to use an in-office identification system which is cheaper and faster than using a central laboratory. Initial reports suggest that this may be the identification system of choice for the future.

There are some clues which you can use yourself to help identify the cause of simple skin irritations on your feet.

• Athletes Foot is generally present between the toes, especially the little toe and its neighbour. It can also be present in the arch of the foot. If present in the toenails, they may be brown lines running towards the toe-ends, or, in advanced cases, the nail-plates themselves can be brown and crumbly.
• Some other skin conditions which affect the feet are Psoriasis (which can also affect the nails), Scabies (caused by a tiny burrowing mite), and sweat-rash (which will clear up as soon as the feet are exposed to sun and air for any length of time). These are all less common than Athletes Foot, so if you have an itchy foot, or a crumbly nail, consider Athletes Foot first.

Self-treatment may work, there are plenty of self-help preparations available without prescription. If self-treatment fails to clear up the condition, visit your GP or podiatrist who can do a skin-scrape test to obtain a specific diagnosis. The symptoms can then be treated accordingly.

Finally, a cautionary tale I picked off the internet this morning from a medical journal called Archives of Dermatology.

This concerns some nasty bugs called rapidly growing mycobacteria (RGM), and the recent documentation in the USA of a localized outbreak of RGM infection. It seems that a 100 or so patrons of a northern California nail salon contracted septic skin lesions on their legs as a result of exposure to whirlpool footbaths which were contaminated...

Please use the enquiry form on my website (www.ortho-pedclinic.com) for any queries relating to leg and foot conditions.

Please feel free to use the enquiry form at www.ortho-pedclinic.com for all foot-health and foot-related matters.
David Holland BSc(Hons), MSc(Dunelm), MChS
Consulting Podiatrist.