When Athlete's Foot gets out of hand, it can be miserable. Symptoms include
itchiness, burning, pain, inflammation, cracked skin, scaling, blisters,
swelling and bad smell. Most over the counter treatments help temporarily, but
lotions and powders can be messy, so it’s hard to keep applying everyday, which
seems to be required to keep Athlete’s Foot at bay. The most effective (and easy
to apply) natural remedy we have found is the use of white vinegar, applied
after each shower.
The following are tips Good Home Remedies found helpful in getting the best results:
Generic white vinegar seems the cheapest, cleanest and easiest to use. It is
cheaper ($2-$3) bought by the gallon.
For severe cases of Athlete’s Foot, where the itching and burning has gotten
unbearable, we found the best immediate relief was to soak our feet from 15-30
minutes in full strength white vinegar. The result is a cooling ahhhh sensation.
After soaking, we would let our feet dry fully, before walking around or putting
socks and shoes on, to prevent vinegar from getting on other things and to keep
our feet dry and comfortable in shoes. We would use the soak to treat acute
Athlete's Foot discomfort. When we had a bad case of itch and cracked skin, we
would soak our feet every day until the worse symptoms receded. We found the
easiest time to soak feet was at night while watching TV.
For cases of occasional Athlete's Foot, with mild flaking and itching, we found
it worked to simply splash our feet with vinegar after we took a shower. We
would keep a gallon of vinegar in or near the shower. Or we would fill a spray
bottle with vinegar and generously spray our feet after every shower. We found
it important to get the bottoms of our feet, which otherwise could be wiped off
when we stepped out of the shower onto a bathmat. We also found it important not
to dry off our feet with a towel, but to let the vinegar dry naturally (if time
allowed), letting the vinegar “soak” in to the skin. We also used this as a
precaution for not infecting other parts of the body with our
towel.In order to keep Athlete's Foot at bay, we found it necessary to splash on some
vinegar after every shower. For us, this seemed easier and less messy than
some over the counter creams and lotions.
The theory for why this works is that the growth of the fungus that causes
Athlete’s Foot is thwarted in an acid environment, and thrives in a moist, alkaline
environment. Most soap is alkaline in nature and so encourages Athlete’s Foot
fungus growth. Vinegar is acidic and thwarts growth on the skin. This appears to be true for
Toenail Fungus as well, and we found vinegar to be effective for treating
Toenail Fungus.
Other basic recommendations Good Home Remedies found to be helpful for keeping
feet healthy and for keeping Athlete's Foot at bay include the following:
- Keep your feet as dry as possible; athlete’s foot thrives in warm, moist
conditions.
- Wear sandals when possible; tight shoes
build up heat and moisture.
- At home go barefoot.
- Wear cotton socks; change at least once
daily.
Since everyone is different, this remedy
won’t work for everyone. So if this does not work for you, other natural
treatments include:
- Tea Tree Oil - caution: Teal Tree oil
may be irritating to the skin.
- Sprinkle baking soda (Bicarbonate of soda) on your feet and in between your toes
before you put your socks and shoes on.
- Grapefruit seed extract – rub on feet
and in between toes.
- Coconut oil
Some people may be allergic or sensitive to
these treatments, especially herbal extracts and oils which are highly
concentrated. |