Athletes Foot Symptoms

Most people in the world will at some time or other experience a degree of athletes foot. Athletes foot is a fungal infection which is caused when a usually fairly harmless fungi which lives on the surface of the skin gains entry underneath the skin and begins to cause damage to the skin.

Some of the damage to the skin can become quite severe and very painful. Typical athletes foot symptoms are scaling of the skin, the skin becoming cracked, development of pustules, inflammation and reddening. Many people often report a burning sensation or stinging also. Athletes foot symptoms can often compare to eczema.

Athletes foot is a condition which can be either contracted from somebody else i.e.: walking barefoot in changing rooms, or can develop on you feet on its own. Some people can also experience athletes foot symptoms on other parts of their body such as their hands or even their face. This can be due to the spreading of the fungi from your feet to you hands or face, or may be a completely separate development.

Athletes foot can develop on anybody, but some people inadvertently leave themselves more open to developing athletes foot than others. The ideal conditions for athletes foot to develop are moist and warm conditions, therefore the more time a persons feet spend been excessively moist, the greater the chance of infection becomes.

The chances of developing athletes foot can be minimised greatly by following a few simple steps:

•  Wash your feet regularly, but when you do so, ensure you have dried you feet thoroughly to prevent setting the ideal moist environment for athletes foot to take hold.

•  Ensure you change your socks regularly. By doing so, the build up of fungi in your socks is kept down.

•  Never walk barefoot in changing rooms if at all possible.

•  Allow you feet to be given as much air as possible. The less moist your feet are, the less chance you have of developing athletes foot.