Many people encounter athlete's foot and other fungal infections. They think they are just itchy, smelly and ugly, so they don't pay much attention to them.

Do you know what the consequences will be if athlete's foot is left untreated? What kind of disease does athlete's foot belong to? What similar diseases are there? What are the different manifestations from mild to severe?

The professional name of athlete's foot is "tinea pedis", commonly known as athlete's foot. It is a fungal infectious skin disease that is contagious. Tinea pedis also has a series of "sibling tinea pedis". Next, let's learn about these "annoying spirits" with me!

There are many types of complications of tinea pedis, which are divided into fungal infections and secondary bacterial infections.

In addition to tinea pedis, common fungal infections include tinea manuum, tinea unguium, tinea cruris, tinea barbae, tinea facialis, tinea capitis and tinea corporis.

If fungal infection is not treated in time, it may cause secondary bacterial infection. Secondary bacterial infections include tinea pedis combined infection, acute lymphangitis, erysipelas and acute cellulitis.

In addition, there is ringworm rash, accompanied by itching and pain, and there can also be secondary bacterial infections.

If untreated, fungal infections such as athlete's foot may recur and affect normal life; further, they may cause more serious inflammation and infection, and then systemic symptoms may occur, such as fever and headache. , even life-threatening.

In other words, maybe the fungus itself is not terrible, but the complications it may cause later are uncontrollable and more harmful to the human body.

Diabetes patients

If diabetic patients with tinea pedis scratch the skin of the affected area due to itching, the skin will not heal easily, forming chronic ulcers, or even developing gangrene and leading to amputation. .

In addition to causing damage to personal health, fungal infections can also affect normal life and study, and have a negative impact on people's psychology.

1. Negative emotional and psychological effects

Recurrent fungal infections can make people feel bad, depressed, and irritable, and they worry that the symptoms will affect their normal appearance. And because they are afraid that others will see their feet, they are unwilling to participate in some daily social activities, such as swimming, visiting friends, foot baths, traveling, etc.

2. Impact on life

Recurrent attacks, unbearable itching, and unbearable sleep will be affected. The itch is sometimes more unbearable than the pain, but scratching it in public can affect your image, which is really frustrating.

Also, fungal infections are contagious and can be passed on to your closest family and friends. These diseases can affect the quality of life in mild cases, and can even be life-threatening in severe cases. Therefore, for the sake of the people around you, you can only keep a distance from them.

3. Impact on social work

Illnesses can affect making friends, limit career choices, make you susceptible to discrimination from colleagues, take sick leave, affect work, make it difficult to get close to each other when dating, affect relationships, etc. .

The Health News reported on June 1, 2006 that the Dermatologist Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association released the "Survey on the Quality of Life of Chinese Tinea Pedis Patients" at the "Tinea Foot Radical Cure Week" science popularization seminar. It shows that nearly 90% of the interviewed tinea pedis patients believe that tinea pedis has an emotional and psychological impact, 84.2% of the interviewed tinea pedis patients have relapses of tinea pedis twice or more every year, and 94% of the interviewed tinea pedis patients desire a radical cure for tinea pedis. , 75% of the interviewed tinea pedis patients said that their daily activities were affected.

Although fungal infections can be treated, they are still a nuisance. It is better to prevent it beforehand than to remedy it afterwards. The key to prevention is to pay attention to personal, family and collective hygiene.

1. Develop good hygiene habits, wear breathable shoes and socks, let the foot skin breathe, keep your feet clean and dry, and change shoes and socks frequently.

2. People with excessive foot sweating should actively treat hyperhidrosis, keep the inside of shoes dry, and do not wear shoes with poor ventilation. Shoes should be made of genuine leather, canvas or other breathable materials, not plastic shoes.

3. If the shoes are wet, do not wear the same pair for two consecutive days. At the same time, the wet shoes should be fully dried.

4. Make sure the shoes are of appropriate size and give your feet more rest, as excessive pressure on the feet can increase sweating.

5. Minimize contact with acidic and alkaline substances and avoid irritation to the skin of the feet due to acidic or alkaline substances.

6. Do not use public slippers, bath towels, and footbaths provided in public places such as hotels and bathhouses. Use disposable slippers, towels and other sanitary ware as much as possible or bring your own sanitary ware.

7. Even at home, you should have separate foot basins, separate slippers, and separate foot towels to avoid mutual infection.

8. Patients who have already suffered from tinea pedis should be treated in time to avoid further infection.

The following are the symptoms of diseases related to tinea pedis complications mentioned earlier. If you have already experienced some symptoms of infection, you can correspond to the table below to see which category and stage you belong to.

If symptoms tend to get worse, be sure to seek medical treatment in time!

Complications of tinea pedis

1. Fungal infection

Keratinizing tinea pedis is common in patients with tinea pedis and is characterized by chronic and transitional keratinization. It is characterized by "two feet and one hand syndrome". In addition to the feet, the palms and fingers have diffuse hyperkeratosis and exfoliation.

Please refer to the table below for some other common fungal infection symptoms!

2. Secondary bacterial infection

3. Ringworm rash

Patients with tinea pedis have a rash-like reaction on the palms and finger sides, and the lesions are mostly blisters. Sexual, severe itching, tenderness in severe cases, and secondary bacterial infection.

After reading so much content, do you have a clearer understanding of tinea pedis? Athlete's foot may seem like a trivial matter, but if you don't pay attention to it in time, it can become a troublesome matter with endless consequences. Therefore, if you have similar symptoms, you must seek medical treatment in time and prescribe the right medicine to avoid causing more serious harm to the body