Athlete's foot - Treatments
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There are good treatments for athlete's foot. Even if you've had it for a long time you should still be able to get rid of the infection. But you may have to treat it for several weeks.
In most of the studies that we found, people treated their athlete's foot for about four weeks. But you may need to treat yours for longer if it's more severe.
The drugs used to treat athlete's foot are called antifungals. This means they kill the fungus or stop it growing.
Key points about treating athlete's foot
- It's important to treat athlete's foot. If you don't, it can spread and it will be harder to treat.
- Most treatments come as creams, gels or lotions that you rub into your skin.
- You're less likely to get side effects from creams or gels than you are from tablets.
- You may have to treat your infection for some time, possibly for as long as six weeks.
- Rub any cream, gel or lotion into your skin really well so your skin doesn't feel wet. Fungi like to grow in damp, wet places.
- If you have athlete's foot between your toes, sprays may be a better treatment.
- There are tablets you can take for fungal infections like athlete's foot. But these don't work any better than creams or gels. And they may cause more side effects.
Treatments for athlete's foot
Which treatments work best for athlete's foot? We've carefully weighed up the research and divided the treatments into categories. You can find out more about each treatment by clicking on the links below.
For help in deciding which treatment is best for you, see .
Treatments that work
- Terbinafine cream or spray: The brand name for terbinafine cream or spray is Lamisil. You can get it on prescription from your doctor, or you can buy it over the counter at a pharmacy. More...
- Creams, powders and sprays that contain an azole drug: These drugs include (with brand names): clotrimazole (Canesten), econazole (Ecostatin, Pevaryl), ketoconazole (Nizoral), miconazole (Daktarin) and sulconazole (Exelderm). You can buy most of them at a pharmacy. You only need a prescription for ketoconazole. More...
- Tolnaftate cream: You can buy some products that contain tolnaftate from a pharmacy. More...
- Undecenoates (paint and cream): The brand name for the paint is Monphytol and the brand name for the cream Mycota. You can buy both of these over the counter at a pharmacy. More...
- Azole tablets: These drugs (plus brand names) include fluconazole (Diflucan), itraconazole (Sporanox) and ketoconazole (Nizoral). You can only get these tablets with a prescription from your doctor. More...
- Terbinafine tablets: The brand name for these tablets is Lamisil. You can only get them with a prescription from your doctor. More...
Treatments that need further study
- Improved foot hygiene: You can improve your foot hygiene by washing and drying your feet carefully and by changing your socks every day. More...
Other treatments
- Griseofulvin tablets: Doctors don't prescribe griseofulvin tablets (brand name Grisovin) very often as this treatment can take a long time to work. However, we've put together some information about it because newer drugs are often compared with it. It's important to remember that the evidence for this treatment hasn't been weighed up in the same way as the evidence for other treatments we talk about for athlete's foot. More...
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited ("BMJ Group") 2007. All rights reserved
This information does not replace medical advice. If you are concerned you might have a medical problem please ask your Boots pharmacy team in your local Boots store, or see your doctor.
