“Ringworm” may be considered a misleading medical term because when you look ringworm patches you can easily believe that a worm is the real culprit. In reality the ringworm is not a worm but a fungus.
If you are confronting with a skin infection provoked by a fungus, this can make you feel uncomfortable and self conscious.
The bad thing is that it is possible; nobody knows what the real problem is! More on, many times the medication cannot resolve the problem because many fungi are resistant to the common medications.
Ringworm means a fungal infection provoked by Dermatophytes, which are mold fungi. Ringworm is also called Tinea.
Ringworm is contagious. It is transmitted through the direct contact with infected people, things or animals. If the things we come in contact with are infected, (as hats, brushes, clothes, towels, etc) we can get ill, too.
It can also spread from the animals to people or from the soil to the people.
The persons who have a weak or a compromised immune system are more prone to get infected with ringworm. Children are usually more prone to suffer from this infection.
Swimming pools, the mats for gym, stalls at the gym and shower areas are the most common places where people can become infected with this fungus.
Because pets can easily come in contact with contaminated soil, they can be easily infested with ringworm. So it is advisable to take your pets to the veterinarian for regularly controls.
Ringworm can appear on those parts of the body that have keratinized skin except the mucus membranes and the eyeballs.
The most common areas where you can find it are: the nails, fingers, scalp, toes, thighs and groin area.
Depending on the infected area the symptoms are mild or very severe.
You can recognize ringworm after the circular patches that appear on the skin. These circular patches are red and circular and the redness usually diminishes to the center.
The circle outer edge is a little more elevated in the interior of the circle and along the surface the skin is flaky and dry. Sometimes the skin looks bumpy and crusted.
If the fingernails are infected, then the nails are thick, brittle and yellow and they break very easy. Many times ringworm appears between the toes.
Toes cracking, flaking and itching are the most common symptoms in this case. When the ringworm appears on the scalp it can be observed a hair loss over the affected area.
If you confront with these symptoms you must start the treatment immediately. The most common treatments against ringworm are Tinactin, Nizoral, Demasil and Lotrimin.
You must wash and properly dry the affected area every day and you must change your clothes daily. Using the towel you can easily spread the infection so, after the shower dry the healthy areas of your body first and then the affected area.
There are also natural remedies that can help you to get rid of ringworm. For example apple cider vinegar, raw papaya, garlic, turmeric, iodine solutions, dead sea salt and lavender oil have proved to be efficient treatments against ringworm.
Ringworm is not a very grave disease but, unfortunately it is extremely contagious. It can be treated easily enough and the treatment usually lasts a few weeks.
The good news is that it can be easily avoided. A proper hygiene can prevent the apparition of ringworm.
What Ringworm Is and How You Can Get Rid of It
When we speak about ringworm we can think that a worm is guilty of that uncomfortable situation when we confront with awful itches and skin flaky skin, and so on. In reality the real culprit is a fungus and not ringworm.
In fact, ringworm is a contagious fungal infection provoked by the Dermatophytes. Ringworm or Tinea is transmitted very easy: a simple touch of an infected person, animal or thing is enough to become infected, too.
The most common places where we can become infected are: swimming pools, shower areas, mats and stalls at gym, etc.
Pets can also transmit us the infection because they come in contact with the infected soil or other infected animals.
Persons with a weak immune system and especially children can often suffer from ringworm.
The skin ringworm causes an itchy rash. You can recognize it after the ring pattern he makes or after the itchy, red rush.
Jock itch characterizes through a severe rush in skin folds in the groin area. It can also spread o the buttock and inner tights.
If hands are affected they will look like the foot of an athlete. The palm skin of the hands is dry, scaly and thick and between the fingers the skin can present open sores and it can be moist.
The most common areas of the body where ringworm can appear are: chest, nails, scalp, feet, groin area, toes, thighs and fingers.
READ MORE: What is Ringworm – For Dummies?
In children, the symptoms characterizes through ring rashes around the thighs, stomach, back or chest. If ringworm is not treated from its first symptoms it can spread quickly and infect many other areas.
Ringworm can be cured easily enough especially if the treatment starts as soon as the infection has been found. Nizoral, Lotrimin and Tinactin are some of the most common treatments used in treating ringworm.
These medicines can be found at the local drug stores and you can find them in different forms: powder, cream or spray.
Dermasil is also used in treating this fungus infection. These medicines have the role to help you to get rid of the unpleasant symptoms in 24 hours and to treat completely ringworm in about ten days.
A proper hygiene is very important when it comes about ringworm. You must wash every day and the affected areas must be properly dried.
After the shower dry the affected area last because otherwise you can spread the infection all over your body.
More on, clothes must be changed every day. When you are changing your clothes be careful and do not rub or scrape the cloth against the affected area.
It is very important to renounce at sharing towels, combs, clothing, hats, and so on, because in this way you can easily minimize the possibility to contact or transmit the fungus.
After you have started the treatment make sure that you can observe some improvements.
If you use the over-the-counter cure every day for 10 days and you don’t observe any improvement, you must contact your dermatologist immediately.
This will examine you and will prescribe you a stronger treatment to combat and treat ringworm.
Prevent Ringworm Spread
Many people think at a worm when they hear about ringworm. but, unlike tapeworm, hook worm or roundworm, ring worm isn’t a worm.
Ringworm is the term used for a fungus infection that appears on skin in a bumpy and raised round formation. It is itchy and sometimes people that suffer from ringworm can feel pain.
Ringworm can spread very easy and it can be a big problem if it is not properly treated.
The good news is that ringworm infections can be prevented very easy.
In order to prevent ringworm infection it is very important to take a bath or a shower regularly. More on, it is very important to keep your skin clean and to avoid the contact with fluids caused by open sores.
It is also recommended to use your own towel and not to share with other members of the family. You must also clean the bath tub or the shower before and after you use it.
If you confront with ringworm you must keep the area covered. Use a bandage and cover the ringworm patch so you can be sure that it will not spread to other people or to other surfaces in your work place or home.
More on, if you keep the ringworm uncovered, the fungus will easily spread to the healthy parts of your body and you will confront with other ringworm patches on the skin.
Ringworm can be easily cured using topical anti-fugal creams or ointments. Ringworm and athlete’s foot can be successfully cured with snit-fugal creams and ointments.
Before applying the treatment you must clean the infected area with hot water and soap and you can be sure that the treatment will work better. take care to repeat the treatment immediately after every bath.
If you suffer from a severe ringworm it is possible to discover that the anti fugal ointments and creams are not enough to get rid of this fungus infection.
In this case you must call your doctor and receive an oral medication. Most of the time the oral medication combined with topical medication can help you to get rid of ringworm easier and faster.
A proper hygiene is a key factor in treating and preventing ringworm infection.
Ringworm can be easily cured with home medication, too. if you do not suffer from severe ringworm and you want to avoid the side effects provoked by different medicines you can take the advantages of the natural medicine without any problem.
Apple cider vinegar is known as a very good treatment when it comes about ringworm. soak a cotton cloth in apple cider vinegar and apply it on the ringworm patch.
Repeat the treatment several times every day. Continue the treatment even if the symptoms have disappeared.
The ring worm can appear again in short time if you stop the cure before the fungus is completely killed.
Juices obtained from fresh vegetables can be also of a great help.
Drink a juice obtained from carrot juice and spinach juice every day until you completely get rid of ringworm.
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