Among the many treatments offered to treat ringworm, anti-fungal creams are usually recognized as the most successful. Ringworm shows up on the skin as a irritation that has a circular appearance to it.The outer edges appear red and the inner portion has ordinary looking skin. The skin on the edges of the sphere many be crusty and raised. The rash itself is not painful but it does get itchy. It is the discomfort of the itch that most people find the most troublesome about ringworm.
Ringworm, despite the name, is not caused by a worm or any other type of animal. Rather it is caused by a fungal infection and thus anti-fungal creams are best used to alleviate it. Although creams are used for most ringworm cases, in certain situations an oral medication may be necessary. Which is used will depend on the individual and the severity of the rash. Over the counter medications usually can take care of the milder forms of ringworm, such as athletes foot and jock itch. These conditions require little more then an over the counter medication. Miconazole and clotrimazole are the most normal ingredients in over the counter fungal medications. Micatin, Lotrimin, Monistat and Tinactin are some of the more common brand name products that have one or both of these ingredients. Terbinafine is another drug used to treat ringworm. This drug is found in another popular anti-fungal cream, Lamisil.
The irritation will need to be washed with soap and water and dried completely before the cream is applied. You should then apply the anti-fungal cream to the inflammation and spread it beyond the border of the rash. Most products must be applied for a minimum of two to four weeks, even after the inflammation appears to have been cured. Ringworm has a bad habit of reappearing.
If your inflammation has not improved within at least two weeks of treatment it is time to go to your medical doctor. You physician has a variety of different medications that they are able to prescribe to you in order to help with your ringworm infection. One such medication is known as allylamines. It comes in creams, pills or gels.
Particularly difficult strains of fungus can often be found in the toenails and scalp. Nail infections which affect the skin under the nail are especially tough to treat. Most over the counter treatments for nail fungus are topical in nature and are usually less then 20% effective in curing the fungus. medical doctor's can prescribe an anti-fungal pill which has about a 50% success rate for this difficult form of fungus. An anti-fungal pill is the most effective treatment for ringworm of the scalp as well. The fungus affects the hair and sometimes causes it to fall out leaving rotund patches of missing hair. You can use prescription creams as well to treat ringworm of the scalp.
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