By Christine Haran
If you're not careful, you might pick up something other than a fit fellow exerciser at the gym or yoga studio. Foot fungus, which can appear as athlete's foot or as a toenail fungus, is likely to spread from person-to-person in communal locker rooms and other public facilities where people walk around barefoot.
Below, Darryl Haycock, DPM, a spokesperson for the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, discusses how you can prevent and treat these itchy, sometimes painful and always unwanted infections.
What kinds of fungal infections affect the feet?
Basically there are two different kinds of fungal infections. One is a nail infection, which is called onychomycosis, and then the other one is a skin infection, what is called tinea pedis, commonly known as athlete's foot.
What causes these infections?
Fungus is in the same class of organisms as mushrooms, yeast and molds. They're basically organisms that grow on dead or dying tissue. The outer layer of our skin and our nails are dead tissue. In other words, they don't have blood flow to them, and they become hard and thickened and allow us to have kind of a water-proof surface. So when someone has a fungal infection, the fungus gets into those tissues and starts to grow.
