Anonymous (Palm Coast, Florida) on 08/06/2009
Replied By Goodtimecharlie (Miami, Fl) on 08/06/2009
Replied By Yeastman (Poway, Ca, Usa) on 01/27/2012
Replied By John (Sydney, Australia) on 04/04/2012
Over the course of several weeks I'd tried alcohol, vinegar, Lamisil, Vaporub, tea-tree oil, Canesten (clomitrazole). I gave each a fair time to show clear improvement, and all did have some seemingly good effect. But after those weeks of experience it seemed none was clearly winning the battle - there was no sense of a complete and proper solution at hand.
An allergy to tea tree oil caused an actual flare-up of the infection (as a side-effect it seems to the skin irritation the allergic reaction caused); five days of Lamisil showed not enough improvement when the tube label claimed seven days in total should be all that was necessary; the alcohol followed by vinegar was helping but wasn't promising to fully clear the infection.
Having seen others mention bleach, and one person the public swimming pool, the thought came ... Chlorine? it really does kill most things doesn't it? Sodium hypochlorite bleach producing free chlorine in solution. I also found claims that bleach baths worked not only for fungus but on conditions like eczema as well. And they were recommended for babies with persistent skin irritation so the bleach couldn't be too harsh, right? Then, when I smelt the bleach, came back memories from childhood of swimming training in chlorinated pools, and it seemed the stars were aligning to suggest that chlorine had been the obvious but overlooked answer all along.
For me at least - so it proved. After the first bath in bleach at about 1 part per 1000 - say just 50ml in 50l of bathwater - and about 20 minutes of gently washing the bathwater over the skin, the problem began clearing immediately and by the next morning was looking and feeling much better. I repeated the one bath per day for five days but also continued to apply Canesten (clomitrazole cream) to the hotspots. After five days what had been a persistent, entrenched, widespread problem was all but entirely gone, just a couple of small red spots remaining.
From my experience then I feel chlorine bleach to be the simplest, most effective, most obvious solution to fungal infections of the skin ... And anyone who like me has in the past spent significant time around public pools could probably have come to this conclusion far sooner than I did. That's all, good luck everyone!
Replied By Ed (Baltimore, Md) on 09/10/2012
Replied By M.A.C. (Washington State, USA) on 05/24/2023
Someone told me to go to a local swimming pool, it was winter, so I chose an indoor pool. I swam for a good hour or so and for many years now it has been GONE. Just one time at the pool. I endured all that pain with spraying alcohol for nothing.
I now have what looks like jock itch / ringworm / eczema / psoriasis (one of these if not all) under my eyes. They have the typical round ring under both eyes. It started under just one eye and at first I just thought it was dry skin so I used castor oil and aloe vera gel (using the same finger like a dummy) under both eyes. It spread from one eye to the other. Now both have that same red ring under the eyes and if I scratch when it gets itchy, it'll be inflamed and red again for another day or two. It will then start to flake off and repeat.
I'm gonna go to the Swimming Pool again when they open on Memorial Day 2023 and report back if it clears up these rings under my eyes. I have high hopes.