Fungal skin lesions are very common. Another name for fungal skin lesions is mycosis. It is easy to assume that the causative agent of the disease is a specific microorganism – cutaneous fungus. Most often, fungal lesions are localized on the skin of the legs.
What conditions can trigger the development of fungal skin lesions:
– Cracks in the skin of the legs, especially in the interdigital spaces. Typically, such phenomena affect people with excessive sweating of the skin of the legs. In addition, cracks can form due to dry skin and even serve as symptoms of diabetes;
– diseases of blood vessels, frostbite, constant standing position of the body, varicose veins of the lower extremities, reduced protective functions of the immune system, diseases associated with the endocrine glands.
How does the development of fungal skin lesions occur
Fungal skin lesions can be infected from a person already suffering from this disease. In addition, infection can occur through contact with the personal effects of an infected person. In this regard, public places, such as swimming pools and steam rooms in public saunas, can be dangerous. Particularly dangerous places with high humidity. The fact is that it is high humidity and temperature that create suitable conditions for the development of a skin fungus population. The skin of the legs more often than other areas of the body is affected by the fungus, since, among other things, it almost entirely consists of keratin.
Having penetrated the skin of the legs, the fungus begins to actively grow. But its development is very slow. In other words, the fungus at first eats the nails on the toes, and then begins to spread to the skin.
Signs of fungal infection of the skin of the legs
With the development of fungal infections of the skin of the legs, small cracks between the toes begin to form at first. Then peeling begins, after which the skin begins to itch and itch.
Symptoms of fungal skin lesions, in general, can be reduced to the following manifestations:
– the nail loses its shine and becomes dull;
– the nail changes color pathologically, becoming black or yellow;
– the nail begins to break, and the surface becomes rough;
– the affected nail pathologically thickens or, on the contrary, thins to an extreme degree;
– there is a painful deformation of the nail plate;
– the cuticle near the affected nail either does not suffer from a fungal infection, or becomes inflamed.
With the development of fungal skin lesions, the nail plates become almost impossible to trim, as they are very thick. In addition, pain can occur, since a thickened nail puts pressure on the skin underneath.
How is the diagnosis of fungal skin lesions
Diagnosis of fungal skin lesions, as well as the treatment of this pathology, is the task of a dermatologist. The first thing a specialist should do is to take a skin sample, scraping, to determine the type of fungus and prescribe it based on this adequate treatment. Self-treatment of fungal skin lesions is unlikely to be effective, since therapy should be based on all individual characteristics and the current condition of the patient.
The danger of fungal skin lesions is that it is extremely difficult to stop its development. Even if after treatment a tiny number of the pathogen remains on the skin, the disease will certainly start again. In addition, the fungus can capture other areas of the skin. A radical case of damage is a fungal infection of the internal organs. In the easy stage, fungal skin lesions are treated with topical agents – ointments and solutions.