Effective ways to treat diaper rash between the toes

Diaper rash occurs when the skin becomes infected with bacteria or fungi. Pathogenic microflora multiplies quickly in skin folds and conditions of high humidity. The disease causes redness, irritation of the epidermis, itching and an unpleasant odor.

Diaper rash between the toes develops due to poor hygiene, wearing poor-quality shoes, hyperhidrosis, or against the background of systemic ailments. Drying ointments, antifungal agents, medicinal baths and traditional medicine recipes help get rid of unpleasant symptoms.

Antiseptic treatment

When the first signs of pathology appear, it is necessary to eliminate the causes of its appearance, walk barefoot more often so that the skin can dry out. It is recommended to wash your feet with soap with bactericidal properties (Dettol), ordinary household soap 72% or tar. This will help eliminate infectious agents and get rid of unpleasant odors.

Diaper rash between the toes can be treated in the early stages with Chlorhexidine, Furacilin solution or Chlorophyllipt. After hygiene procedures, the skin is carefully wiped with a cotton swab dipped in antiseptic, allowed to dry and sprinkled with talcum powder. It is useful to use baby powder, Sholl Odour, Dr. Talc. Pharmacy products eliminate excess moisture, so the skin between the fingers remains dry.

Stages of disease development

The appearance of diaper rash develops gradually, including several main stages:

1. Light form. Small cracks appear between the toes, which cause itching, and when actively walking, a burning sensation.
2. Average degree. The affected areas itch more, the redness on the skin increases, which indicates the development of inflammatory processes. The cracks deepen, gradually turning into ulcers.
3. Difficult stage. At the site of the cracks, ulcers form that bleed heavily. A strong unpleasant odor appears from the feet. Walking and touching the skin causes severe pain.

What diaper rash looks like depending on the stage of progression is shown in the photo. To prevent serious complications, the onset of the disease (red spots, itching, peeling) cannot be ignored.

Mild diaper rash

Medium form of diaper rash

Severe diaper rash

Therapeutic baths

You can get rid of diaper rash at home by taking baths with decoctions of medicinal herbs. Oak bark, sage, St. John's wort, chamomile, string, celandine, and calendula flowers have astringent, drying, regenerating and bactericidal properties. If your feet sweat a lot or smell unpleasant, add mint or eucalyptus to the decoction. Such ingredients give a feeling of freshness and coolness.

To prepare the medicine, take 2 tablespoons of the herb, pour 0.5 ml of boiling water and leave for 2-3 hours. Then the composition is filtered, added to a basin of water, into which the feet are immersed and kept for 15–20 minutes. After the procedure, the feet should be allowed to dry naturally. Treatment should be carried out daily in the evening before bedtime. This method can also be used to prevent diaper rash between the fingers.

Baths are also made with soda or a weak solution of potassium permanganate; a few drops of iodine are added to the water.

Recommendations for choosing shoes

In order to protect yourself as much as possible from diaper rash, you should pay close attention to your shoes. Shoes must be of high quality and comfortable. When choosing shoes, you should be guided by the following tips:

1. Size . Shoes should fit your feet and not be tight. If your fingers are pressed too tightly together, they will be subject to friction. This will cause cracks, wounds and sagging of the skin. Also, you should not buy boots for growth.
2. Time of purchase . It is recommended to buy a pair of new shoes in the evening because by the end of the day the legs swell a little and the feet increase in size.
3. Selection of shoes . You should choose shoes only from natural materials. It is better to give preference to leather products and completely avoid shoes made from synthetic materials. In the hot season, you should wear open shoes or cotton moccasins. When buying shoes, you should be guided by the rule that more expensive shoes last longer and do not get wet. In addition, cheap things are short-lived, they are made from materials that are harmful to health and cause skin damage.
4. Smell . Before you buy boots, you should smell them. A strong unpleasant odor is an indicator of low quality products. Such shoes will only cause discomfort and harm to the owner.

If you adhere to the rules for choosing shoes, this will help to avoid diaper rash and calluses, and therefore will help maintain human health.

Pharmacy ointments

How to treat diaper rash between fingers and toes in adults? You can eliminate redness and swelling of the skin and speed up the healing of blisters using the following means:

• Desitin dries the dermis, absorbs excess moisture, and creates a protective film against bacteria and fungi. During treatment, there is no drying or peeling of tissue. Treat feet 3 times a day; the drug can be used to remove diaper rash in children and adults.
• Sudocrem quickly relieves skin irritation, has anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antifungal, and local anesthetic effects. To treat diaper rash, the ointment must be applied 4-6 times a day until the skin is completely cleansed.
• Calendula ointment is an antiparasitic, antimicrobial agent that promotes wound healing. The drug is made on the basis of plant extracts and can be used to treat diaper rash in people who are allergic to other synthetic creams.
• Teymurov's paste contains salicylic, boric acid, zinc oxide, formaldehyde, peppermint oil. The medicine cleanses the dermis, relieves itching, inflammation, reduces sweating, and dries wounds. Treatment should not be carried out for purulent ulcers. The paste is applied in a thin layer to previously cleansed skin of the interdigital folds 2-3 times a day.

What is prickly heat on the legs?

This pathology is one of the variations of dermatitis, which is characterized by the formation on the skin of multiple small white or red blisters filled with liquid.

Recently, prickly heat on the legs is increasingly appearing in adults. Often the disease is accompanied by a fungal infection.

Symptoms: redness, itching, peeling, small rash, swelling on the feet, between the toes.

Diagnosis based on examination and skin scraping. Treatment is prescribed taking into account the cause of prickly heat.

Usually this means maintaining hygiene, wearing comfortable shoes and socks made from natural materials, herbal foot baths, zinc ointment, antiseptics; when an infection occurs, use appropriate ointments, sometimes tablets.

Before the appearance of rashes accompanied by severe itching, the patient suffers from slight irritation and hyperemia. The occurrence of dermatitis is preceded by a disturbance in the activity of the sweat glands, which causes increased sweating.

Miliaria is uncommon in adults. It is important to differentiate miliaria from other clinically similar diseases. This requires a thorough in-person examination.

Dermatovenerologist, cosmetologist

Zhikhoreva Inna Viktorovna

6 years experience

Most often, the pathology affects young children, but recently the diagnosis of the disease in adults has been steadily increasing. In this case, a bacterial or fungal infection is sometimes added to prickly heat, which significantly worsens the patient’s condition and complicates the treatment process.

In addition, such a complication not only makes it difficult to eliminate dermatitis, but also affects internal organs or even entire systems. Therapeutic therapy for infectious lesions will require much more time, effort and financial costs.

Pyoderma provokes suppuration, and the staphylococcal pathogenic flora that enters the body penetrates through the vessels into the liver and kidneys, which are responsible for purifying the blood.

Treatment of such consequences is carried out in a hospital with the help of antibacterial agents.

Therapy for stage 3 diaper rash

At an advanced stage of the disease, the skin between the toes is very swollen, hyperemic, and after the blisters break, weeping erosions form. If a secondary bacterial infection occurs, a purulent-inflammatory process develops, accompanied by the formation of ulcers.

Treatment begins with the use of compresses with drilling fluid, resorcinol or silver nitrate. Loose bandages soaked in a medicinal solution are applied to cleansed skin and changed 2-3 times a day.

Antibiotic ointments help speed up healing and relieve inflammation:

• Levomekol is a combined product that penetrates into the deep layers of the skin and stimulates regeneration processes.
• Syntomycin ointment reduces pain and irritation, relieves inflammation, and heals damaged cells.
• Erythromycin ointment is used to treat skin diseases and infections caused by gram-positive bacteria.

To dry the skin between the toes, diaper rash, and cure purulent wounds, Ichthyol, Vishnevsky ointment, Rescuer, Nitocid are prescribed. In case of advanced necrotic process, ulcers that do not heal for a long time, dermatologists prescribe gels with glucocorticoids: Betamethasone, Focort, Cortonitol.

Causes of prickly heat on the lower extremities

Any disease appears for some reason, which is why dermatitis in adults develops for a reason. There are factors leading to increased sweating:

• Wearing uncomfortable synthetic shoes and clothes.
• Excessive physical activity in the summer.
• Having excess weight.
• Overheating of the body due to high humidity and air temperature.
• Impaired metabolism .
• Using oily skin care products that close pores.
• The presence of endocrine pathologies, for example, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and also problems with the gastrointestinal tract.
• Neglect of hygiene .
• Using medications that increase sweat production.
• The presence of viral, infectious diseases with fever.

Excessive alcohol consumption also increases the risk of heat rash on the feet. Most often, exacerbations of the rash occur in the summer, but in winter, relapses also occur due to the use of low-quality shoes.

Traditional medicine recipes

How to treat diaper rash at home, what folk remedies help quickly get rid of the skin disease? Effective herbal recipes:

• Cut 2 fresh plantain leaves, grind in a meat grinder and apply the resulting pulp to the skin between your fingers. Secure the top with a piece of gauze and put on a sock. Leave the medicine overnight. You can also use plantain juice for a compress.
• Healing ointment: heat a tablespoon of honey in a steam bath, add 10 g of Vaseline, 5 drops of sea buckthorn, mint, and tea tree oil. Stir the ingredients and store in the refrigerator. It is necessary to lubricate the skin between the fingers 2-3 times a day until complete recovery.
• Instead of powder or talc, you can use buckwheat flour, potato starch or oatmeal. These remedies help fight hyperhidrosis, relieve itching and discomfort.

Treatment with folk remedies can be carried out only in the initial stages of the disease. If symptoms of inflammation, suppuration, or damage to the nail plates appear, you should consult a dermatologist. The doctor will conduct an examination and laboratory tests, determine the cause of the pathology and the causative agent of the infection. If diaper rash occurs against the background of concomitant systemic illnesses, it is necessary to eliminate the provoking factor, otherwise the disease will constantly recur.

Exercises to strengthen your feet

In addition to using a remedy for diaper rash between the toes and maintaining good hygiene, it is recommended to perform special exercises that strengthen the feet:

1. Walking on toes . You need to tiptoe around the room for two minutes every day.
2. Flexion-extension . Squeeze your toes with force, and then sharply spread them out. Perform the exercise several times. If the movements are difficult to make, you can help with your hands. It is especially useful to perform this exercise at the end of the working day, when your feet are tired from tight shoes all day.
3. Collecting items . You need to concentrate and try to lift small objects from the floor with your toes. For example, you can scatter pencils or sea pebbles and try to collect them.
4. Foot massage . When gripping the foot, the thumbs should be placed on the sole, with all other fingers and palms gripping the instep of the foot. Knead the entire surface of the sole well, moving along it. The final touch is to bend your feet inward.
5. Foot abduction . Sit down, stretch your legs forward. Using force, lift the forefoot and toes up, hold in this state for a few seconds, then lower down as much as possible. Repeat the exercise several times.

In the warm season, exercises and foot massage can be replaced by barefoot walks. The result of such training is an irritating effect on the nerve centers of the feet. For such purposes, walks along:

• sun-warmed sand;
• conifer needles in a pine forest;
• sea ​​pebbles;
• grass;
• earth.

After walking barefoot or doing gymnastics, you should take a foot bath. The water should be warm at least 38 degrees. Add one tablespoon of sea salt per two liters of water to the bath. After the procedure, your feet should be rinsed with cool water, which should preferably be acidified. It is enough to add one teaspoon of boric acid.

If you cannot avoid the disease, it is not recommended to self-medicate. For an advanced form of diaper rash between the legs, treatment with folk remedies alone will not be enough. You should immediately visit a specialist who will prescribe complex therapy.

Prevention measures

To prevent the development of skin pathology, you need to wear comfortable shoes made from natural materials. Athletes and people suffering from local hyperhidrosis are recommended to use antiseptics and foot deodorants.

After water procedures, the skin should be completely dry; you should not rub the interdigital area too much. Use a separate cotton towel for foot care. Before putting on shoes, you need to wipe the dermis with an antiseptic and sprinkle the folds with talcum powder.

Diaper rash between the fingers appears due to poor hygiene, excessive sweating, and fungal infection of tissues. To carry out effective treatment, you need to visit a dermatologist, the doctor will establish the correct diagnosis and prescribe products for external use. In addition to basic therapy, alternative medicine recipes can be used.

Where and why does infection occur?

Mycosis of the feet is a contagious disease that is easily transmitted through direct contact with a carrier of the fungus or through household items. For example, through shoes, socks, towels, manicure supplies, rubber shower mats. In 70–95% of cases, the causative agent of mycosis of the feet is Trichophyton red (Tr. rubrum).

Typically, infection occurs in public places with high humidity, where there are favorable conditions for the reproduction and spread of the pathogen. Such places include swimming pools, public showers, saunas, water parks, and gym locker rooms. If a person infected with fungus walks barefoot on the shower floor or rugs, they will leave behind infectious particles. And if a healthy person then steps on this place with bare feet, the pathogen will get on his skin. However, the fungus does not always immediately manifest itself and cause characteristic symptoms of the disease. With strong immunity and no health problems, a person remains simply a carrier of the infection, but does not get sick himself.

The risks of getting fungus and developing mycosis of the feet increase:

• damage to the integrity of the skin;
• disruption of the blood supply to the extremities, in which the supply of oxygen and nutrients to tissues deteriorates, regeneration processes slow down, and local immunity is weakened;
• diabetes mellitus, high levels of glucose in the blood create favorable conditions for the proliferation of the fungus and the progression of the infection;
• increased sweating;
• dry skin, which leads to microcracks;
• elderly age;
• blood diseases;
• long-term use of antibiotics, drugs that suppress the immune system;
• vitamin deficiency;
• wearing shoes that do not allow air to pass through and create a “greenhouse effect.”

Diagnostics

First of all, the doctor must examine the affected area to determine the type of disease. After an external assessment, a specialist collects a pathological history.

It is important to identify the exact cause that provoked such a problem. Only after installing the original source can you completely get rid of heat on your feet.

If the disease is caused by external factors, then they must be eliminated. As an additional measure, a dermatologist should take a scraping of the affected skin to examine for the presence of infection.

Clinical manifestations

The symptomatic picture depends on the type and degree of pathology. In this case, any type of prickly heat begins with irritation in the area of ​​​​increased sweat production.

The skin turns red and hyperemia of the epidermis develops. In the absence of timely, high-quality treatment, prickly heat on the lower extremities progresses.

With this disease, patients suffer from:

• redness;
• rashes;
• severe itching;
• painful sensations;
• peeling;
• swelling;
• discomfort when walking;
• aesthetic, cosmetic defects.

Difference between heat rash and allergies

Miliaria and skin allergies are two pathological conditions that are similar in appearance and are often confused with each other.

If the problem is not given due attention, then the rash with blisters filled with liquid secretion turns into purulent ulcers.

Such wounds are dangerous because at this stage the likelihood of contracting a bacterial infection increases significantly. Mostly vesicles form between the fingers or on the feet. As the dermatitis progresses, it covers the entire foot.