Natural Remedies For Athlete's Foot

Borax

Posted by David (Springfield, Missouri) on 11/08/2015
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Borax powder for Athlete's Foot cure

I have not read this one on the site, so thought I would share.

I sprinkle a liberal amount of borax powder, like the 20 Mule Team brand, over inside-out socks, then flip again to get them right side out. I wear them during the workday and after 2-3 days, all crusty feet are gone and I am left with, by comparison, baby-smooth skin on my feet. Amazing cure and much simpler than soaking your feet in ACV, etc.

Typically, I follow up with this every 3-4 months, or when I start noticing any rough skin between my toes, and a few days of this will stop it.

Be advised, if you have severe athlete's foot, you may lose a significant amount of dead/diseased skin on your feet the first day, which can be alarming. I recommended this treatment to a family member who had a very bad case and he was a bit disturbed by the amount of skin coming off his feet the first day. He decided to do borax soaks in a foot bath instead, so the reaction would be slower and less alarming, which it was. It was a complete cure for him in about a week, and he does the 3-4 month powder in the socks follow up as needed.

Other thoughts: Something about the heat, pressure, and moisture on your feet of a normal day's work seems to make this work better, as I have tried follow-up treatments on the weekend with just socks and does not seem as effective.

Also, more powder seems to work better than less, which can feel a bit odd as it seems you are walking with fine sand in your socks, but the sensation is unnoticeable to me in a few hours. I would estimate the quantity per sock at about 1-2 tablespoons. I have tried follow-ups with just a small sprinkling and that does not seem to work as quickly as the 1-2 tablespoon amounts.

Alcohol

Posted by Brent (Oregon) on 11/06/2015
★★★★★

I apologize for being long winded. But figured this information could prove useful to someone out there.

(TLDR version: I have moccasin type athletes foot.
Wipe with alcohol, cover area in iodine. Dremel off dead skin (Yes I said dremel) This should not hurt. (Don't peel, it will tear.) Soak freshly exposed layer in ACV daily for 30 mins. After soak use essential oils. If the area starts to get hard again. Repeat.)

Well, truth be told science IS nature. How did ACV cure your athlete's foot? Scientific processes. Science is the outcome of nature, which man tries to understand an then harnesses. It's a beautiful and inescapable fact of reality. So I have to laugh when people juxtapose 'nature' and 'science' as though they are mutually exclusive. A remedy is a remedy whether you're conscious of its scientific processes or not. While you may not be following a scientific process to PROVE it's effectiveness, science as reality still happens.

Glad to hear it worked for you. I'm in the process of using ACV. I've used every anti-fungal essential oil you can name, creams, powders, iodine tincture, hydrogen peroxide, etc... and it still clings on. It's a LOT better but I have been treating it daily for about 3 or more months now, and it's really only in two spots. A spot on the pad of my foot under my pinky toe and between my pinky toe. I think it may have started on my heel now, so I am going back to apple cider vinegar foot soaks. Which is what I started with as treatment months ago, but now with a twist.

I'm certain it's the moccasin type, that started inter-digitally about 6 months ago. If I had gotten to it when I first saw symptoms I think it would be gone by now.

The most effective thing I've done so far has been to wipe down the area with a cottonball soaked in isopropyl alcohol (do NOT soak your foot in alcohol). I then take tincture of iodine and cover the area. I also make sure to get outside the area where the visible fungus is because it usually exists outside the area as well. This dries it out very quickly and effectively. Then I dremel.

Since it's the moccasin type, the outer layer is already hard to begin with (moccasin-type athletes foot basically makes a shield with your skin) so after a few days of wiping with alcohol and applying iodine twice a day, the outer layer is ready to be dremeled. This should NOT hurt. I use a small electric dremel you plug into the wall with a relatively soft sandpaper like tip. I haven't had this hurt yet. If this hurts your foot, you're either dremeling soft tissue or your skin isn't dried out enough yet... or your dremel is too powerful/tip is too rough. Use common sense. Also, make sure to dremel in a location that's not going to likely spread the fungus to someone else. While the outer layer of skin is dead, and comes off in a fine powder, fungus could still potentially be living so just be cautious. The whole point of this is so that you can actually put your medicine of choice on your moccasin athletes foot and it be more effective... or effective at all. Personally, after the soft tissue is now exposed, I soak in ACV for 30 minutes. THIS WILL HURT. Then use oils.

Also, a word of advice, DO NOT PEEL your dead skin tags. The way that this specific fungus sheds your skin is like a hangnail. You'll get a tag of dead skin, want to pull it, but it will tear down into fresh tissue opening a wound for the fungus to dive right in. I made this mistake and it's lasted a lot longer than it should have, my foot was incredibly sore and treatments were EXCRUCIATING.

Side note: I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would use Hydrogen Peroxide with the type of athletes foot I have. Maybe mine is just really imbedded. The levels of pain I experienced from Hydrogen Peroxide were ridiculous. Literally ridiculous. I skipped all the normal reactions from pain and went straight into laughter. I don't know how you all do it. We're talking nerve pain. Hundreds of thousands of needles jabbing into your foot, pain. I'm a tough guy, and I don't cry, and I toughed out 30 min soaks a day or more for more than a week that didn't get rid of it. So no more. God bless you all who want to go that route.

Currently on my second foot soak with ACV after dremeling. Still stings just as bad as yesterday's soak. Crossing my fingers. I will also be applying essential oils all day. Currently I have Melaleuca, Lavender, Oregeno, Clove, Cassia, Fennel, Cumin, Lemongrass, Frankincense, Arborvitae, Helichrysum, Rosemary, and Bergamot essential oils at my disposal after my foot soaks. All of these apparently have anti-fungal properties which you can read more about at organicfacts.net.

Hot oils that will burn: Cassia, Oregeno, & Clove. Peppermint is so cooling it will feel hot around privates. Do not use any of these for jock itch unless you want to feel miserable. Peppermint being the least miserable.

All others are relatively mild and give a sense of mild cooling and relief, and should be ok to use should you have jock itch around sensitive areas as well. Cumin and Lemongrass are especially smelly. You will smell like lemongrass for about a day (sweet smell) and cumin (spicy smell kind of like BO) for about two days.

Apple Cider Vinegar and Hydrogen Peroxide

Posted by Rhonda (Batesville) on 07/05/2015

Do not re-use. Cheap brands of Apple Cider Vinegar works great. Also, just use Apple Cider Vinegar & skip the peroxide..an earlier post said don't mix Apple Cider Vinegar with peroxide.. Damaging.

Greek Yogurt

Posted by Misszmsz (Las Vegas, Nevada) on 06/13/2015
★★★★★

After 6 months of fighting athlete's foot over the soles of both my feet, I tried plain Greek Yogurt. Rubbed a couple tablespoons on affected area and covered with plastic bags. Immediately feet stopped itching. Now just have to deal with dry skin and cracked fissures.

Borax

Posted by Victor (Wisconsin, US) on 04/18/2015
★★★★★

I had athlete's foot for many years, feet & shoes smelled terrible. One day I was reading the side of a box of borax, & there it stated that it removed odors. So I began to sprinkle borax into my shoes, and also into my socks. It made my feet hot, but in a few weeks it cured my athlete's foot, & has never returned. Now use it occasionally as insurance to prevent return infection.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by John (Gainesville, Florida ) on 04/13/2015
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Rarely have I found a home remedy more effective than prescription medication, but in the treatment of athletes foot apple cider vinegar is much more effective and inexpensive. In spots that are about the size of a coin I tear paper towel patches to fit, then soak them in vinegar and place them to cover the spot. Leave it on until it eventually dries, which is about half an hour. Two treatments a day for two days will usually stop the fungus in it's tracks, depending on how deeply the fungus has penetrated the skin layers. Vinegar is an acid of just the right strength to kill the fungus without causing tissue burn, as does clorox. I use the bleach solution to soak my socks in and spray the inside of my shoes. Afterward, allow shoes to dry in the sun. Works like a charm.

Coconut Oil

Posted by Serafin (Covina, Ca) on 02/04/2015
★★★★★

For athletes foot, the best treatment is apply Virgin Coconut Oil twice a day. That bad smell of their feet will just go away at no time at all.

Alum

Posted by Thomas (Salem, Oregon) on 12/18/2014
★★★★★

Alum works to treat athlete's foot. Use cooking alum. My Vietnamese wife prepared this treatment for me. Warm up a pot of hot water and dissolve the alum in it. She might have added salt also. Soak the feet in it for an hour. However, I have found apple cider vinegar to be just as effective. Soak the feet in 100% ACV for an hour. Repeat daily for a week or so. Improvement will come after the first or second soak. Keep the feet dry and allow the feet to breathe. Avoid synthetic fabrics. Use only 100% cotton socks and 100% cotton bed linens.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Thomas (Salem, Oregon) on 12/18/2014
★★★★★

I have found Apple Cider Vinegar to be very effective to eliminate athlete's foot. I soak my feet in 100% full strength, undiluted ACV for one hour whenever the athlete's foot gets active. One or two soakings makes it go away. Daily soakings for an extended period of time might eliminate it altogether. The athlete's foot comes back when my feet don't get enough air. The worst thing is winter sleeping under synthetic (polyester or acrylic) blankets. I have to use cotton-only bed linens and blankets to allow my feet to "breathe." And I use 100% cotton socks.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Lana (DC, US) on 12/12/2014
★★★★★

I had a case of very itchy AF between my toes that I just couldn't kick - it had gone on for months. Lamisil was keeping it under control - sort of- but not eliminating it. I read about using vinegar diluted with water and tried it a while ago, but it seemed even less effective than the Lamisil.

Then the AF took a turn for the worse - the itching was waking me up several times a night, and was at the "want to claw your skin off with your fingernails" level. So I went back to the web and saw the posts about undiluted vinegar. I was worried that it might be too harsh on my skin, but was getting desperate it this point so I was willing to risk it.

I didn't have ACV in the house, so I used distilled white vinegar at 5% acidity. I put it in a Tupperware container elevated on one end so it mainly covered my toes. I also followed earlier posters' instructions and let it air dry without rinsing it off.

As some others have said, the results were amazing. The itching went away during the first soak. On day two, I soaked my foot twice. Since then I really haven't had any itching. But at this point (3 days after the first vinegar soak) I am continuing with daily soaks of 10-15 minutes until I'm confident it's all gone.

I also haven't noticed any ill effects from using the undiluted vinegar.

And one final thing -- I also started using antifungal powder between my toes when I need to wear shoes/tights/hose. That seems to help too.

Very happy with the vinegar!

Phythium Oligandrum

Posted by Sam (Miami, FL) on 06/22/2014
★★★★★

A friend of mine was unsuccessfully trying to cure some fungus on her feet for many years. She found Pythium oligandrum skin/nail fungus treatment (3 x 2 g) on shop.owndoc.com. It was a100% success.

Pythium oligandrum is a harmless fungus that eats harmful fungi, and then dies of starvation when all bad fungi have been eradicated. Pythium oligandrum is a parasite to other fungi such as Trichophyton, the dermatophyte fungus that causes various conditions knonw as Tinea - Athlete's foot, nail fungus, ringworm and jock itch

Fresh Aloe Vera

Posted by Mmsg (Somewhere, Europe) on 03/09/2014

Lady Mars, I've tried Aloe from my plant for a good many things and it never worked for anything, from burns to eczema etc. Do I have the wrong plant? It's Aloe Vera with green-grey spikey leaves. I've seen the same plant with speckled leaves, are they better?

Fresh Aloe Vera

Posted by Lady Mars (Lithia, Fl) on 03/08/2014
★★★★★

Had a persistent fungus infection (athlete's foot) which I get rarely, but have always treated successfully. This time, standard OTC and home remedies weren't working very well. Would calm the drive-me-out-of-my-little-mind itching for a while, but not really getting rid of the fungus. I grow aloe to treat fire ant bites (rub leaf goo on bite and prevents blistering and cools stinging. Works on mosquitoes also.)

Aloe worked better on athlete's foot than anything I ever tried before, including prescription stuff or 'female' creams. Did it once yesterday morning, goo dried or soaked into skin, not sure which. This morning swelling all gone and redness almost gone. Had NO itch for 24 hours since using once. Did once more today and I think that will take care of it.

No clue if aloe gel or cream would work as well, but my best guess would be probably not. Don't see how any gel could have more of the good aloe stuff than the plant. Aloe is so useful, I'd recommend that anyone with a sunny windowsill grow a couple plants. They will not tolerate a hard freeze, but will be happy outside in any temp. above freezing. Easy to divide, get more, give some away. They're a tough plant, but grow faster with decent soil and enough water.

The aloe drinks they sell everywhere now are also really good for upset stomach. My husband has severe gouty athritis among other problems and takes too many meds. For him, he thinks the aloe drinks help reduce the pain a little in his joints. I sometimes make him an aloe smoothie with a couple leaves and whatever I have on hand.

Aloe vera is one of my favorite natural remedies, powerful, safe and cheap. What's not to like?

Bag Balm + Lotrimin

Posted by Mike (Mlps, Mn) on 02/11/2014
★★★★★

I have a better solution for athlete's foot, My wife used the old bag balm and "lotrimin" powder, over the counter treatment here. I had tried sprays and creams and the powder itself and it seems to rub off to easily then the fungus takes over again... I had blisters. It took weeks for the powder to work, just a few days for the bag balm and lotrimin mix and it's gone ... 8 years now and no recurrence!

Garlic

Posted by Green (Canada) on 12/06/2013
★★★★★

Hi There, I ha Athletes foot for 2 months until I discovered garlic. Tried ACV and drugstore foot sprays & powders to no avail. I finally made a paste by crushing and mushing up garlic cloves, adding s little olive, and mushing some more to make a nice paste. I rub it into my feet well 2-3 times a day and put clean socks over top each day. I make up enough for one or two days at a time --usually 2 to 3 medium/large garlic cloves per day. I rub it in well to all areas of my foot. This method is finally working; after 3 days, it is so much better. Good luck.

Coconut Oil, Tea Tree Oil

Posted by Sara (The Beach, Ont. Canada) on 11/21/2013
★★★★★

I have been suffering with athletes foot for two years now and I believe a planters wart as well. for the last two weeks I have been soaking my feet in a foot bath of listerine and hot water. And I felt a nice relief from the wart, but since then I have added a mixture of coconut oil and tea tree oil twice a day on my feet and covering them with cotton socks. The difference is nothing short of amazing. I have one spot left and just a small amount of itching and its only due to my feet being dry. I truly hope it helps someone else to try this.

Blessings, Sara

Tea Tree Oil

Posted by Travis (Austin, Tx) on 11/02/2013
★★★★★

When I was a teenager I had a bad case of Athelete's Foot. I remember trying everything available at the store and nothing worked. I had heard that Tea Tree Oil cures it since it is antifungal and gave it a try by rubbing the oil (undiluted) on the foot on and around the infected area with a cotton ball. Then put on a sock so that the Tea Tree Oil does not rub off. It cured the problem in a couple of days.