Ringworm Symptoms & Treatment
What is Ringworm?
Ringworm, despite its name is not a worm and has nothing to do with worms. It is in fact a fungal infection. The reason for its name is due to what it looks like. That is, it appears as a round circle or ring on the skin of the patient.
Very closely related to Ringworm is a condition known as Jock Itch where there is a fungal infection in the groin.
ringworm
Ringworm is mostly found in children; however, it can be caught by anybody of any age.
The ringworm looks like a round ring shaped patch on the skin which will be red and silvery with scales. It can also be quite itchy. The ring spreads outwards and eventually the centre will heal and look like normal skin, leaving a red ring.
Scalp and head ringworm infections can cause baldness at the point where the ringworm is.
What causes Ringworm?
The fungal spores which cause ringworm are around all of us everyday. They are found in the soil, on other people and also on a variety of animals. Usually, they enter through a break in the skin where they are then able to infect the patient.
The environment where ringworm thrives best is in warm damp areas, so in places where you sweat a lot are absolutely perfect for the fungal spores to thrive.
There are a number of ways that ringworm can infect you. It can be passed to you from other people or animals very easily due to its high contagious level. Any high levels of contact from either pets or from working livestock on farms can pass on ringworm to people very easily. When it comes to person to person contamination, it usually happens when people share combs, or unwashed clothes. Unwashed surfaces in swimming pools are also very good places to catch ringworm.
Diagnosing Ringworm
Ringworm is very easy to diagnose. Usually, the ringworm symptoms i.e. the round red scaly ring are enough just on their own. However, doctors could also take a scraping off the affected skin or in the case of head or scalp ringworm a hair off the patient and then look at it under a microscope where confirmation of the diagnosis can be carried out.
What is the Treatment of Ringworm?
Depending upon whether or not you’re suffering from head or scalp ringworm or whether you’re suffering from ringworm on your skin, will determine what type of treatment you will receive.
If you can catch the condition early enough, then you should be able to purchase an anti fungal cream from your pharmacist which should cure your skin ringworm or in the case of head/scalp ringworm, an oral anti fungal medication.
However, if the cream or oral medication doesn’t appear to be eradicating the ringworm, then a trip to your doctor will be required. He will then probably prescribe a slightly different anti fungal medicine with different active ingredients.
If the ringworm is very inflamed and/or irritated, then the doctor may also prescribe a topical corticosteroid in order to soothe these symptoms. This is commonly the case when an area of eczema is infected by ringworm.
For all patients who are suffering from ringworm, it is very important to have a strict routine in order to deal with it. That includes keeping the affected area dry and clean. Dont share towels and wash bedding and night clothes regularly (ideally once a day).
– Wash the affected area gently but thoroughly every day
– Change your socks and underwear daily
– Avoid scratching and touching the irritated area
It is possible that the ringworm could move from one affected area to the other. Also the broken skin caused by scratching the ringworm, could lead to other infections as the skin is broken.
Ringworm is a very common contagious condition caused by a fungus and not by worms. With the correct treatment and care, in the vast majority of cases, will just be uncomfortable and inconvenient.
Ringworm and How To Treat it
It itches, makes you scratch, but it is not a worm. It is contagious but can be controlled naturally and quickly. Kill the the fungus with a proven natural remedy.
Tinea (Ringworm)
A rather common ailment has gone by a very unattractive name and one that is somewhat misleading. The scientific name for this ailment is Tinea; however the more common name is simply Ringworm. Tinea is Latin for growing worm and may have led to the more common English translation.
Watch the video below for a full explanation of ringworm, and some easy natural cures for ringworms that you can do at home:
Ringworm Defined
Ringworm is a simple fungal infection that zeros in on several key areas of your body including feet, scalp, nails and in the general area of the groin. The hallmark of ringworm is itching, skin redness and a patchy lesion that is clear in the center.
Transference
The fungal agent associated with ringworm is found among humans and animals. There is also a small variety of ringworm fungus that is found in certain soils. The transference of the fungus from carrier to host generally takes place through direct contact with either the infected animal or individual. Transference can also happen, to a lesser degree, from touching surfaces that the infected person has been in contact with.
Incubation
Scalp ringworm is generally noticed 10-14 days after contact with an infected animal or human while skin ringworm can appear 4-10 days following direct contact.
Prevention
One of the most effective ways to reduce conditions conducive to the spread of ringworm fungus is to keep areas that find common use clean. In the home this would be places like the dining room, living room and bathroom. In school this would be lockers, gyms and gymnastic mats.
Avoid sharing personal items like towels, hairbrushes, hats, and clothing items. If you are involved in school sports consider wearing flip flops when taking a shower or using the pool. You might also make a habit of washing sport uniforms on a regular basis.
When petting animals it is always a good idea to wash your hands or use antibacterial hand gel until hands can be washed.
Learning about how ringworm is spread is a perfect preventative measure because the more you know about how it is spread the less likely you will be to put you or your family at risk. Knowledge is a key preventative step in reducing the incidence of ringworm.
Other Common Names
There have been numerous names given to various aspects of ringworm that many may find surprising; athlete’s foot and jock itch are two such examples. These infections are the result of a classification of fungi known as dermatophytes that gravitate toward dead skin tissues, nails and hair.
Natures Assistance
While the purpose of this article is not to diagnose the existence of ringworm or how to treat it from a medical standpoint, we can recommend two natural products that act as a natural anti-fungal agent. The mineral colloidal silver has been shown to kill more than 600 diseases and may be effective in treating ringworm. Another natural product that has show promise in reducing the effects of ringworm is tea tree oil.
What is Ringworm?
If you are looking at a patch of skin that is kind of reddish and has rounded edges but normally is not in that area, YOU MIGHT HAVE RINGWORM! Not a real worm but a skin infection caused by fungusÖ
Most people don’t get a mirror to look in the mirror to see the area back of their neck. My adult daughter teaches grade school and we were at a basketball game. Her long hair was in a ponytail and draped in front of her. The reddish patch of skin about the size of a golf ball was obviously not there as she grew up so I asked if it itched. ìWhat? What are you talking about?î ìNo its not ringworm! That’s gross!î
Most people have never heard of a yeast overgrowth in the body, or tinea, or dermatophytes. But they have heard of jock itch, athletes foot and womens yeast infection. These are all caused by fungus overgrowth. One of these is called ringworm.
When changes occur in the body such as stress, menstrual cycle, hormonal change, or sometimes the taking of antibiotics can cause the ph balance in the body to change so that fungus can grow in abundance. The fungus is present in our body at all times but is not allowed to grow out of control because our immune system will kill off most of the fungus. Fungus spores are present in every area of the globe.
Ringworm may itch, may spread to large areas, may infect pets too, may be eliminated by topical solutions or in extreme cases require antibiotics. Watch the video below to learn more about ringworm infection and how you can go about treating it.
The characteristics of skin infected in circular patterns evokes the name ring, the growing of the infection somehow was correlated to a worm. The center of the ring of skin that is infected may clear up leaving the outer circle to define ringworm. In some cases the infection is so large that no ring is noticeable. The fungus can cause patches of hair to fall out in the scalp, beard or pet. The hair will grow back.
Ringworm is prevalent in children as they spend a lot of time outdoors and in contact with the ground.
Inspect your pets for ringworm fungus infections, as dogs, cats and horses are hosts of ringworm fungus. Prevent any member of the family from using communal hairbrushes and combs.
The ringworm fungus is described as expanding raised rings of pinkish inflamed skin, sometimes scaly on any location on your body, that can be a lesion, blistered or cracked skin. In most cases ringworm is described as a circular area of discolored skin that itches.
Ringworm and all fungus overgrowth have had natural remedies attested to, on the World Wide Web, of tea tree oil, colloidal silver and oregano oil. These natural remedies will not further upset the ph balance of the body and will strengthen the immune support system. Going natural is no longer a Euell Gibbons thing; we now know that helping the body heal with natural support leaves fewer side effects and quicker healing time!
