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:
- Light form. Small cracks appear between the toes, which cause itching, and when actively walking, a burning sensation.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
Symptoms
Diaper rash in a child looks like redness of the skin, accompanied by a rash and the appearance of ulcers. In advanced cases of diaper dermatitis, cracks, erosions, blisters, and weeping wounds may appear in the folds of the skin.
Severe diaper rash can cause itching in a baby, urine or feces getting into the inflamed areas of the skin - pain and burning.
Diaper rash in newborns disrupts sleep, causes anxiety, and crying. The most common locations are: in the groin, on the butt, between the legs, on the testicles, under the arms, on the neck, behind the ears. Before one year of age, diaper rash occurs quite often.
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.
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.
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.
Causes and mechanisms
As the name itself suggests, the main cause of the phenomenon in question is increased production of sweat and its slow evaporation from the surface of the skin. The following factors contribute to this:
- Staying in a hot climate.
- Wearing shoes made of synthetic materials.
- Intense physical activity.
- Insufficient foot hygiene.
We must not forget that the function of sweating and thermoregulation largely depends on the state of the body. Therefore, various disorders can be accompanied by foot hyperhidrosis. These include:
- Overweight and obesity.
- Endocrine pathology (thyrotoxicosis, diabetes mellitus).
- Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
- Feverish conditions.
- Autonomic dysfunction.
In addition to the above, people who take certain medications, use oily skin care products, and drink alcohol to excess are at risk for heat on the feet. Each person may have one or a combination of several factors. As a result, sweat has an irritating effect on the skin, which results in a rash.
The development of prickly heat is mediated by external factors or internal changes in the body.
