Athlete foot home remedies - efficient solutions that clear out the athlete's foot infection

In order to prepare athlete foot home remedies, you should know what to be aware of when it comes to athlete foot symptoms and a cause of this foot infection.

Athlete foot (athlete's foot or tinea pedis) infection can appear and infect any other part of the body: head, legs...you name it. It is caused by organisms belonging to a group called Dermatophytes, a wide spread fungi. Other causes of the athlete foot may be a fungal infection caused by Candida albicans.

Athlete foot symptoms

Feet naturally have an environment where bacteria live and grow. However, the ringworm causes a disbalance of the bacterial colony and causes an infection. Itching is usually the first symptom of ringworm infection you should look for. Then, the redness appears as the skin gets more and more infected. Often, there is crusting and scaling of the skin. The cracks in the skin may actually lead to blistering which can be painful and can expose the raw tissue increasing the risk of infection.

Even though it is called athlete foot, this infection can easily spread to the rest of the foot, affecting the soles and toenails that then become brittle and suffer disintegration. Touching it causes it to spread to the scalp or anywhere else on the body.

Whenever the ringworm infection affects a fold on the body, such as fold between the toes or armpits, it is called intertrigo. You can see it in this athlete foot picture. (courtesy of wikipedia.org)

Prevent the athlete foot cause

Keep your feet dry

Athlete foot infection is different from ringworm (tinea) infections that appear elsewhere on the body simply because this fungus thrives in environment that feet provide. They grow best in areas that are moist and dark, and the fold between the toes are just that.

Keep your feet dry, change your socks often and apply foot care powder a few times a day. Make sure your shoes are comfortable so they don't cramp your toes and cause sweating. Buy good quality sock, cotton ones are the best as the cotton allows the skin to "breathe" better. Wash your feet and dry them thoroughly after that.

If this routine still doesn't provide a barrier for the fungus, you might want to try a few simple athlete foot home remedies that take only a couple of minutes to make, but kill the fungus and stop it from spreading.

Athlete foot home remedies and treatment

There are numerous ingredients you can use for athlete foot home remedy.
Before applying any of them, wash your feet well.
Here are a few home skin remedies:

Tea tree oil

Use a cotton pad that you have previously dripped a few drops of tea tree essential oil. Gently apply on all areas affected by the infection. Let it dry off. Tea tree oil is recognized as a strong antiseptic that prevents and stops the infection. It acts as a powerful anti fungal agent, that stops the growth of fungi.

Baking soda

Baking soda is a base that returns the pH affected by ringworm to normal, thus killing the fungi.

Mix baking soda and some distilled water until you get one of these two consistencies:

paste-like or
liquid.

For the first one, use it as you would use a paste. Spread it on the skin, let it dry off and then rinse off.

If you prefer, you can make it a bit more liquid so you can dip cotton balls or cotton pads in it and apply it on the skin.

You could also soak your feet in water to which you have added a cup of baking soda.

Vinegar

You can always use vinegar as a treatment for athlete's foot. Vinegar is highly acidic and very successfully kills the fungi.

Apply it by either soaking cotton pads in it and then on the skin, or by soaking your skin in water to which you have added 2 cups of it.

Alcohol

A highly potent disinfectant, it can be used in a combination with vinegar or solely. Dip cotton balls in alcohol and apply the same way you would vinegar.

To mix it with some vinegar, add a 1/2 cup of it and then 1 cup of vinegar to water,

Salt

Add 1 cup of salt to water and soak the feet.

Warning!

Once the infection has progressed and blisters have appeared, do not try this athlete foot remedy. It will cause even more burning than you blister have already.

Hair dryer

Use it every time you wash your feet. The dryer the feet, the better the chances are fungi will stop spreading.

Bleach

Mix 1 gallon of water with 1 tablespoon of household bleach. Dip the cotton ball in it and apply it 2-3 times a day.

Aspirin

Aspirin contains acetyl-salicylic acid AKA Beta Hydroxy Acid used in cosmetics to open the clogged pores. In this case, it can certainly be used as an athlete foot home remedy because it is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent that clears out any inflammatory process on the skin's surface.

By using this athlete foot home remedies properly, the infection should clear out within a couple of weeks.

If you notice the symptoms getting worse, visit a podiatrist.

Return from athlete foot home remedies to home remedies

Return from athlete foot home remedies to skin care recipes and remedies

Looking for a specific recipe, home remedy or ingredient? Type the word and browse through the results.