Athlete’s foot treatment

Antifungal medicines such as butenafine, clotrimazole, miconazole, tolnaftate, terbinafine, and undecylenic acid are used to treat athlete’s foot. You can buy them from your pharmacy without a prescription, and there are lots of different products available. Formulations include creams, powders, gels, and sprays. There is no evidence to suggest that one antifungal medicine is better than another, so it comes down to personal preference. You should only use one antifungal medicine at a time. They work by killing the dermatophytes that cause athlete’s foot, and usually do this by disrupting the production of important components needed for the fungal cell membrane.

For children, it’s best to use clotrimazole, miconazole or tolnaftate-based treatments.

Apply the treatment as directed, and because this varies between different products always read the instructions carefully. You may need to use them for several weeks after the rash has cleared to stop it from returning. Typical treatments include:

Clotrimazole: apply 2-3 times a day for at least a month.

Miconazole: apply twice a day and continue for 10 days after your skin is back to normal.

Terbinafine: apply once or twice a day for 7 days, but don’t use on children less than 12 years.

Always try to avoid any creams or products that have steroids in them (such as hydrocortisone). Although these may initially seem to help by relieving itching and soreness, they can actually make the spread of the fungus worse.

To prevent and manage athlete’s foot, you need to keep your feet from becoming hot and sweaty. Therefore, you should avoid wearing tight-fitting shoes, avoid wearing shoes in the house, try to rotate between the footwear you wear, dry your feet well after washing them, and wear clean socks every day.

Fungal spores can spread from person to person when your body naturally sheds skin, so if you have athlete’s foot, you should avoid sharing towels, socks, and shoes, and wear flip flops in communal changing rooms and showers. These measures can also stop you from getting athlete’s foot again in the future. Fungal spores can also spread to other parts of your body. Therefore, if you have athlete’s foot, you should avoid scratching affected areas of skin and use a separate towel for your feet.

You should make an appointment to see your doctor if medicines from your pharmacy have not helped treat the problem. They may decide to take a small scraping of skin from your feet to send to a laboratory to check if you have athlete’s foot. If your infection is severe or widespread, your doctor may recommend an antifungal tablet instead of a cream. You should also make an appointment to see your doctor if you have diabetes or a weakened immune system, or if your rash has spread to other parts of your body, such as your hands.

You should seek urgent medical advice if your foot is hot or very painful. This may indicate that you also have a bacterial infection that will require antibiotic treatment.

If your doctor is unclear on the diagnosis or your treatment has been ineffective, they may refer you to a dermatologist.