Preventing althletes foot

[BunnyMomma]

Hi, I remember seeing Dr. Oz on Oprah and they did a wonderful episode on this subject. The safest way to get rid of athletes foot is to start wearing 100% cotton socks. Get rid of any nylon ones. Also soak your feet in plain tea.

Yes, tea. Like Lipton or Tetley etc. Unsweetend of course. Soak your feet in this 2x each day and also soak them alternately in a warm saltwater bath of 1/4 cup of table salt or sea salt in a gallon of water. The tanic acid in the tea, kills the fungus.

The saline will sooth the misery. Wear cotton socks with sandals as much as you can. Also, the fungus is in any shoes or socks you may have. wash your socks with some chlorine bleach in a mild detergent. Place your shoes outside in the sun for a day or two on the deck or driveway and the UV rays will take care of the fungus in your shoes. I hope this helps.

Also you can get a good anti-fungal cream, and it is very inexpensive. I saw some at the Dollar Tree last week. I promise you it works!
Good Luck
Bunny

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Exactly how is the UV rays supposed to get down in to your shoes?

 

[BunnyMomma]

Open up the shoes, and let the sun's heat and UV rays work on them for a few days. Heat and sunlight kills bacteria and fungus. There are plenty of articles about the subject. Here is a link to Applied Environmental and Microbiology http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2663198/
Additionally, most bacterias are proteins and heat denatures the protein cells and thus destroys the bacteria.
http://www.suite101.com/content/using-heat-to-destroy-and-kill-microbes-a73348
A UV light source could be used, directed into your shoes. You can put them in a black plastic bag as well to solarize them in the sun. Especially in the summer. A heat gun could be used. And so on!

 

[SillyChicken]

There is also a bacteria that you can get in your feet that is similar to AF. If you razer a thin slice of callus off your foot you can see tiny pin holes in the skin makes your feet stink too. The dr. had my DD soak her foot in a diluted bleach solution for several days. It cleared it right up.

To prevent bacterial/fungals, keep your feet dry! Cotton socks, breathable shoes, don't wear wet stuff any longer than you have to, let your feet air out. I've never gotten AF being bare foot or from dirt.. Just from working in wet shoes all day or sweating etc...without being able to air out my feet. Alternate shoes if you can so they an air out. Oh and washing helps too! LOL!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Yes UV an heat both kill bacteria and fungus.

UV has to hit it directly. It would work on sandals or open type shoes but you will never be able to get the UV to hit enough of the inside of most shoes to be effective.

Heat works but the heat required is around the range that releases the glue holding many kinds of shoes together.

Using the antifungal powder or spray on them works or just Lysol them every time you take them off.