Athlete’s Foot Information:

What is an athlete’s foot, and what causes this skin condition? Below are the facts you’d be interested to know about the illness:

Fungi, tiny members of a subdivision of the plant kingdom that feed on organic matter, are responsible for various common skin infections. In some cases, they affect only the skin and its appendages like the hair and nails. Superficial infections rarely cause even temporary disability and respond readily to treatment.

• Athlete’s foot, also known and referred to as tinea pedis, is the most common among all the fungal diseases. Its name is derived from the fact that it’s frequently contracted by athletes through contact of their bare feet with infected shower floors or swimming pools. However, its occurrence is not limited to athletes.
• Athlete’s foot is a fungus infection with one or more of various types of trichophyta or with an epidemophyton.
• Majority of the cases of athlete’s foot are caused by Trichophyton purpureum, which frequently produces the more chronic and refractory lesions.
• The skin disease usually flares during hot and humid weather.
• Once a person has this skin condition, it may remain dormant if not treated.
• There are three different forms of Athlete’s foot: acute athlete’s foot, which comes in small oozing inflamed blisters breaking out singly or in patches between toes, followed by scaling and cracking and spreading to the soles of the feet; chronic athlete’s foot with dry cracks and loosely clinging dead skin covering the red shiny raw tissue; and hyperkeratotic athlete’s foot with dry scaliness and thickening of the skin.