The 3 Types of Athlete's Foot: Which One Matches Your Symptoms?
Athlete's foot is often described as though it were one condition with one appearance. In practice it shows up in three fairly distinct patterns, and knowing which one you are looking at changes what you should focus on. Two people can both have tinea pedis and share almost no symptoms in common: one has an itchy, soggy gap between the toes, the other has dry, thickened skin across the sole and no itch at all. The three patterns are usually described as interdigital, vesiculobullous and hyperkeratotic, often called moccasin type. They can overlap, and long-standing cases frequently show more than one at once. Still, the classification is genuinely useful, because each pattern tends to behave differently and to be confused with a different set of look-alike conditions. Type One: The Toe-Web Pattern This is the most common form and the one most people picture. It settles in the narrow clefts between the toes, especially the last gap, and produces pale, softened, peeling skin. T...