Athletes Feet

When somebody has 'athletes feet' in the medical sense, what they are suffering from is a fungal infection. The fungal infection can ravage the skin of the feet, causing a multitude of symptoms, such as: dry cracked skin on the sole of the foot, flaky eczema-like skin, development of irritating and bleeding pustules.

Although it is accepted, as the name suggests, that athletes are prone to developing athletes feet, most people - including many athletes themselves - may not have learnt why this is, so we'll begin by shedding some light on this.

On every persons feet (even the cleanest of feet), there resides some level of fungal activity. The fungus like our feet because they usually have some degree of moisture to them from perspiration, and they are warm. In short, they provide the perfect conditions for fungus to thrive.

Athletes feet tend to be more subject to developing athletes foot partly for this reason. Athletes feet spend much of their time in damp wet, and warm conditions whilst participating in their sporting activity. This gives the fungus just what they need, in addition to other opportunities for propagation.

The first opportunity the fungus has is, as the feet sweat they become soft and skin breakages and wear can occur. For the fungus this is great news, as skin breakages allow them entry underneath the surface of the skin, where they can begin to do damage to the feet such as described in the first paragraph.

The second opportunity for propagation and spreading occurs in the locker or shower room. Wherever bare feet are walking on floors, the fungi will spread from person to person. Now you know why athletes foot can often be more rife among athletes.

For more information on athletes foot, as well as treatment advice, you should check out our Athletes Foot Treatment page.