An Overview Of Athlete's Foot, The Symptoms And Dealing With Infection

Athlete's foot is medically referred to as tinea pedis. The symptoms manifest themselves differently, some have untold discomfort while others have next to no symptoms. The most well known symptoms include:

- Skin scaling, skin cracks and peeling.
- Softened skin, blistering, macerated skin
- And inflamed patches.
- The skin's surface could start to burn, itch or do both.
- In between the toes the skin may become infected.



This type of infection is common, in fact interdigital toe web infection is one of the most common strains of Athlete's foot. Many people find that the area of skin between the two smaller toes is the first to become infected. The infection usually manifests itself in this way:

The skin becomes unusually soft and pale and the surface feels damp to touch.
The skin may feel hot and itchy and it could have an unpleasant odor.
The situation may deteriorate. The skin could become cracked or scaly, it may even begin to peel. Severe infection can mean that a bacterial infection is underway and this may mean that the sufferer experiences severe lesions that smell unpleasant.

Moccasin foot- also known as Moccasin type infection is one of the more severe types of the infection. This strain of the infection manifests itself in this way:

The sufferer may notice that the skin is scaly, dry, itchy and irritated.
Quite often the skin will then thicken, scale and crack. In extreme cases the infection affects the toenails. The nails grow thicker as they become infected, the thickened toenails may become crumbly and at worst could drop off. Those who suffer from this condition should read articles relating to Fungal Nail Infections. The symptoms have been known to appear on the palms of the hands or they may affect one hand and two feet. This condition is known as Vesicular infection.

Vesicular infection is a lesser known infection. This condition manifests itself as :

Weeping blisters start to appear just under the surface of the skin. The wet blisters are highly noticeable on the instep, as well as appearing on the heel, in between the toes and on the sole and top of the foot. The infection is recurring although it may reoccur on a different part of the body. In between bouts the skin may feel dry and scaly.

Because Athlete's foot and pitted keratolysis are alike the two often get mixed up. The latter condition happens when the foot bears weight but the symptoms are much the same.