hello I'm dr. Archer Punk and today we
are gonna discuss a very important topic
which is superficial fungal infection
how to treat and how we can prevent the
recurrence superficial fungal infections
have become an epidemic in India in the
past few years our OPDs are flooded with
patients with superficial fungal
infection and they are coming back to us
with recurrent infection and also drug
resistance meaning that you know
important medicines are not working on
their condition so it's high time that
we understand this condition and know
how to protect ourselves from the fungal
infection and what could be the causes
that are causing this recurrence so we
will look into all these factors in this
video today fungal infection has become
a health hazard it is affecting a large
number of people and in a family
multiple members are affected it has
become an economic burden because these
antifungal tablets are not cheap you
know they are quite expensive when you
have to take these medicines for a
period of about three weeks sometimes up
to three months it can become a very big
economic hazard and can cost you so we
need to understand how we can prevent
these infections and how we can
effectively treat it there are multiple
reasons why there is a sudden rise in
the number of fungal infection few being
organization we are living in smaller
homes now there is overcrowding there
isn't proper hygiene and also longer
commutes making people travel long
distances for work and they are sweating
and all sold because of increased
humidity and increase in use of steroid
creams or over-the-counter creams that
is given by chemists and the most
important being non-compliance to
medication patients are taking
medications stopping them Midway not
completing their course all these are
leading to a rise in the fungal
infections the most commonly seen fungal
infections are caused by dermatophytes
these fungi are skin loving so they
break the upper layer of the skin and
the derived nutrition from
the skin so it can occur in areas
wherever there is water logging or
logging of sweat so areas such as the
armpits such as the groin area in the
buttocks beneath your breasts all these
are areas where you see this fungal
infection so how do they appear they
appear as red round lesions they can be
red sometimes darker colored they are
round lesions with scaling in the
corners and they are they caused
significant discomfort they can be a lot
of itching and in some patients will
have like you know severe infection it
can even cause burning sensation and
irritation which is our complete by a
lot of redness around these lesions so
these are the usual features it usually
starts from the body Falls but can
spread to involve any part of the body
nowadays we are seeing a lot of facial
lesions and not of lesions even on the
arms and extremities that is away from
the body folds so what should you do
when you have a fungal infection first
and foremost you have to consult a
qualified dermatologist or a qualified
health professional who is well equipped
to deal with this condition to properly
diagnose this condition and also treated
effectively and second most important
thing is that you understand your
condition and complete the medication
take the medication as advise for the
number of period that has been advice
this is very important because when you
suddenly start the medicines you feel
that there is an improvement in symptoms
within one or two weeks you feel that
the fungal infection has cleared away
completely but that is not the case the
fungus takes time to get cleared away
from the skin you might get symptomatic
relief but there is still fungus on your
skin so until you get rid of that you
cannot stop the treatment so follow the
doctor's advice take it for the number
of weeks that they have advised you fall
so apply the creams regularly and as
advice do not leave the creams or
medications Midway this will lead
recurrence of the infection so make sure
that you are completing the course as
per the advice of the doctor and one
important thing to understand is that
please do not take medicines from a
chemist store from a pharmacist they can
only dispense the medicines cannot
prescribe it without examining and
nobody should be prescribing your
medicines without examining you
completely so make sure that you're
visiting or qualified professionals for
this condition and you're getting
examined completely before you start the
medications and one more important thing
is always take all the documents with
you whenever you visit a doctor whatever
past medicines you've taken in case
you're having a recurrent infection so
that the doctor has a fair knowledge of
what medicines you've taken in the past
and what not to repeat or you know how
much impact you've had from the last
medicine so this always helps the doctor
in deciding the medication so if you
have taken oral antifungals in the past
for a good two to three months and their
lesions completely resolved and then it
came back again you want to share this
fact with your treating doctor you have
to share the medicines that you've taken
and how long did you take what creams
did you apply all this will help them in
making a decision as to which drug to
prescribe you a fourth this current
infection so see we do understand that
certain antifungal tablets and creams
are slightly expensive and you might not
want to take it for you know two to
three months but just remember that not
treating this infection is going to only
cause recurrence and then it is only
gonna make it more expensive in the long
run so better to treat it properly and
completely in the first row itself or
I'm repeating this again and again but
please understand that you have to
complete the course of the medication
and not stop it Midway and in this video
I will not be naming any brands of
medicine either oral or topical because
what happens is that all these drugs are
dispensed over-the-counter I don't want
you to go and buy these medicines
over-the-counter from a chemist that
completely defies the purpose of this
video right so I want you to get the
knowledge understand why this condition
occurs
why this infection is occurring again
and again and how to treat it but
understand that you have to visit a
qualified dermatologist and then we'll
take treatment any kind of online
consultation or you know just reading
something online and taking medicine is
not going to help you with this
condition especially because it has
become rampant today it needs to be
controlled properly and the course has
to be taken and we also need to look
into your past history so all this can
only be done when you are face to face
with the doctor so remember to visit a
qualified dermatologist so there are
important things you need to understand
when you are having our fungal infection
so there are certain things you need to
do first and foremost you must take a
bath daily ok twice if possible and
after taking a bath you'll wipe yourself
completely
especially you will wipe the areas of
the body for like the armpit the groin
area the buttock area has to be wiped
dry and try to use a shower gel do not
use very big soaps or share soap with
anybody so I prefer to tell my patients
who use shower gel if you do want to use
the soap use a small barrel soap that
can be discarded after a few days so
that even there is a little bit of
fungal infection on the soap you're not
bringing it back onto your skin again
and make sure that all your clothes are
ironed your undergarments are properly
ironed before you wear them make sure
that your towel is washed every day and
your towel has to be ironed
try to use a thin cotton towel not the
thick Turkish towels use thin cotton
towel which can dry easily it is very
important to iron your towel because the
fungus tend to thrive in areas which are
moist so even the towel you know bare in
humid conditions when it is very hot and
you made sometimes the towel does not
dry away completely you can still feel
that it's slightly damp and it is there
that the fungus will go and stick onto
the towel so make sure that it is ironed
try to wear loose cotton clothing
specially your pants do not wear any
denim or any thick material which will
make you sweat and these areas like the
groin the buttock
should be dry so the undergarments need
to be cotton and try to wear cotton
pants which are loose so that there is
aeration there and you there is no sweat
logging so make sure that your pants are
loose and and it is Airy if you're
suffering from fungal infection all your
clothes need to be washed separately not
with the other family members otherwise
there is always a chance of the
infection being transferred to other
family members so your clothes are going
to be washed separately sun dried and
ironed if you workout in the gym
make sure that you're wearing sweat
absorbent material your clothes have to
be sweat absorbent and as soon as
official workout go for a bath and dry
yourself and change your workout clothes
regularly give it for a wash every day
and also wear it only after I mean you
keep your nails short sometimes nails
could be the place where this fungus is
hiding right so your nails need to be
short and try not to scratch yourself if
you do feel like scratching you can
apply me a little bit of an antifungal
cream or a little bit of a calamine
lotion to give you the soothing effect
but do not scratch scratching will enjoy
your skin further it will also transfer
the infection into your fingertips and
then when you scratch somewhere else
there is tons chance of transfer so that
is something you don't want to do also I
cannot stress on this point more take
the medicines properly for the number of
weeks or months that has been prescribed
to you by the doctor and whatever dreams
that you've been given apply it in a two
centimeter margin beyond the lesion so
you'll apply it within the lesion as
well as two centimeter margin beyond so
this will also help in preventing
recurrence steroid creams have been
implicated in worsening of the fungal
infection also the epidemic that we are
seeing steroid you know kind of reduces
the inflammation for some time so you
feel that your infection has become
better but the fungus is multiplying
right so it is not actually helping you
it is only reducing the reaction of your
body to the fungus but it is not
taking care of the fungal infection so
it is only making the condition worse
and is also thought to give rise to
resistant strains so please do not use
any steroid creams when you're having
fungal infection and always use creams
only after understanding what it
contains and how the components work so
this is a patient who had used steroid
cream in his groin area which he took
over the counter without consulting any
doctor he had used it for about three to
four weeks and as you can see he has
developed stretch marks in this area so
please do not use any creams containing
steroid in your groin area or anywhere
else on your skin without consulting our
doctor I'll be listing down the names of
steroids in the description box below
you can check these components and in
your creams and do not use those creams
in such areas you should be using only
plain antifungal creams in this area as
there should be no steroid combination
applied in areas such as groin under the
breasts and in your armpit so please
know what your screams contain before
you use them I hope you found this video
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thank you for watching