Fungal disease or, scientifically, mycosis has recently become 2.5 times more common: approximately 20% of the world's population suffers from various types of this disease. Skin fungus is caused by microscopic parasitic fungi that live primarily in moist areas of the skin and mucous membranes. Today, science knows a huge number of species of these parasites, among which only a couple of dozen have become the most common. Fungus is no less common in children than in adults.
Treatment of the fungus should begin as soon as this disease is discovered. The longer you delay going to the dermatologist, the longer the treatment will be. Examine your child more carefully when bathing or trimming nails, especially if the baby attends kindergarten: for him, this is the first place where he can catch this disease. The first symptoms of the disease are:
Its further treatment depends on how the fungus manifests itself.
Many parents, having discovered any illness in their child, are in no hurry to take their child to the doctor, but look for folk remedies, believing that our grandmothers also coped well with illnesses. Indeed, there are some recipes for fungus on the nails and feet that are still used today.
So, treatment of nail fungus in children can be carried out with the following folk remedies:
If treatment continues for more than 3 months and there is no effect, consult a specialist.
At home you can make ointments and compresses from herbs
If your child, after taking off his shoes, complains of discomfort in his feet, or you yourself notice that the feet are peeling, blisters, erosions have appeared - in no case should you delay treatment. At home, you can make ointments and compresses from herbs that will not only relieve the baby’s discomfort, but also cure foot fungus.
In addition to herbal compresses, treatment can be carried out with all kinds of foot baths:
Treatment of nail and foot fungus is a very long process.
Treatment of nail and foot fungus is a very long process that can take months. If a child becomes ill, he or she is excluded from kindergarten or school. All his clothes are ironed or doused with boiling water. It is much easier to prevent foot and nail disease by following simple hygiene rules:
If parents find something suspicious on their child’s body, they should not wait and hope that everything will go away on its own. With any illness, time plays against the patient.
Children get fungal nail infections much less often than adults. Yet the fungus affects up to 17% of children aged 0 to 14 years. Most often, infection is caused by background processes: injuries, chronic diseases, chemotherapy, reduced immunity, family genetics.
Children in countries with a temperate but cool climate get sick more often, since they spend most of the year in warm, closed shoes. Such shoes are an ideal environment for the development of fungal cultures. The disease progresses almost the same as in adults, but treatment is more difficult.
There are a lot of nuances associated with the process of a child’s growth, with his low weight and the general vulnerability of the child’s body, which is in the process of hormonal changes.
Diagnosis of toenail fungus in young children under one year of age is complicated by the fact that many parents do not know the signs of fungal diseases. “I thought it was the structure of his nails,” say stunned mothers when the pediatrician tells them the bad news.
Signs of nail fungus in infants and older children:
Nail fungus develops more actively in children than in adults. If there is any suspicion, it is enough to cut off the tip of the nail and submit it for examination.
Pay attention to the condition of the skin on your child's feet. The appearance of scales and cracks between the fourth and fifth toes, “moccasin foot” (keratinization of the foot), plaque-like and crater-shaped skin lesions signal that something is wrong. This is either a fungal or another disease.
From the practice of skin and venous dispensaries, it is known that more than 80% of children become infected in the family. Thus, in the Samara dispensary, when identifying 16 sick children from 8 months to 5 years, 11 had at least one sick parent. The remaining five young patients became ill as a result of a toenail injury. The most common types of fungus in children are Trichophytonrubrum and Trichophytonmentagrophytes.
In the 1990s, a real breakthrough was made in the treatment of fungus, new drugs appeared, both systemic and external, that are gentle on the children's body. Some are available for free sale, which is used by parents trying to cure fungus at home. This is not the best solution for a child. Home treatment does not lead to complete expulsion of the fungus. It pushes the problem inside and makes crops more resistant to treatment. The best way out is to go to the doctor.
Only a doctor, having studied all factors - age, weight, state of health - can select therapy. Depending on the circumstances, this will be mono- or combination treatment.
Monotherapy involves taking systemic or external medications - varnishes, gels, sprays or ointments. Combination treatment combines both types of therapy and is usually used for more advanced disease.
The gentlest remedy is griseofulvin, but it is only good for the very early stages of toenail fungus. The effectiveness of this drug is very controversial; relapses are common with its use. Therefore, when treating children, various doses of terbinafine or fluconazole began to be used.
Children weighing up to 20 kg receive 62 mg of terbinafine daily, weighing from 20 to 40 kg - 125 mg. Fluconazole is calculated using the formula 3 mg per kilogram of body weight once a week. Treatment usually lasts up to 3 months. If combination therapy is prescribed, clotrimazole or other similar drugs are rubbed into the nail plates of children.
The effectiveness of itraconazole in treating children remains unclear. Some countries of the world use it in pediatric practice, some do not - they are waiting for detailed clinical studies.
In case of keratic lesions of the nails, hardware grinding of the plates on the legs should be done as they grow. Usually once every three weeks.
For infants, local treatment in the form of nail polish - amorolfine or ciclopirox - is still preferable. You need to make sure that the dexterous child does not put his bare feet in his mouth.
It happens that during treatment creams (travogen) and varnishes (batrafen, loteryl, etc.) are combined, even in young children. Some parents insist on more gentle treatment, fearing side effects for the child.
In this case, the use of a solution of exoderil and candida 2 times a day for a month is indicated. However, this treatment, like treatment with griseofulvin, is not always effective.
Doctors do not recommend treating fungus only with folk and natural remedies, baths and compresses - the process can be driven inside, but not removed. The fungus will continue to poison the child’s body.
A child’s delicate skin and nails are less resistant to treatment with iodine, Kalanchoe, grapefruit seed concentrate and vinegar essence solution. You can make soap and soda baths, smear the affected areas with burdock extract, speedwell, tea or palm oil. But it is still better to use it as support for the main therapy.
During treatment, tights, socks or rompers should be washed in water at a temperature of at least 90 degrees Celsius and treated with a hot iron. It is necessary to disinfect shoes once a month during long-term therapy, before and at the end of therapy.
The best cure for nail fungus is prevention. Be attentive to your baby and remember that the fungus never goes away on its own.
Fungal diseases of the feet affect 20-30% of people in the world, but only 2-8% of them are children. Children suffering from concomitant diseases, with a weakened immune system, and from families with aggravated heredity are infected.
Advanced forms of foot fungus are extremely rare among children - these are mainly children from unfavorable social environments.
The pathogen in children is Trichophyton rubrum (it is “responsible” for 95% of cases), followed by its “brother” Trichophyton mentagrophytes. And from 2 to 9% - yeast and mold fungi.
Infants and young children - in the family, during close contact with mother and father. Foot fungus in children is a contact disease, transmitted through household items and touch when the protective function of the skin is impaired.
The fungus penetrates between the toes through cracks, abrasions, and abrasions caused by ill-fitting or non-breathable shoes. More often, children whose families have a hereditary tendency to fungal foot diseases become ill. And those who have too tight spaces between their toes.
The nails are also affected - they become thicker, lose their transparency and change color to white, dirty gray, yellow and any other color except pinkish. The nail lags behind the bed on one side and, when cut, resembles a “bird’s beak.” The child is often plagued by itchy feet.
Children's skin contains more water, their mineral and lipid metabolism is more active. These and other features predetermine a slightly different course of the disease than in adults. It can be called more “wet” and spicy.
Rashes and weeping, swelling, and clusters of blisters appear. More often than in adults, vesicular and interdigital fungus occurs on the feet. Fungi open the door to childhood allergic dermatoses.
A household diagnosis will be simplified by this knowledge: the child’s nail configuration may not change (their nail plates are renewed 2 times faster, the fungus “doesn’t keep up” with growth), but the surface of the nail will flake rough, appear in waves, stripes, spots of yellow, brownish and whitish in color.
Your suspicions will be confirmed or refuted by a doctor using microscopy and examination by placing fungal cultures in a special environment. It’s even better if the doctor has the ability to do DNA testing. Then the diagnosis will be made on the same day.
In children, nails grow faster, the body is stronger, and the lesions are more superficial. Therefore, local treatment with external agents is often the main treatment. But it is not uncommon for children to be prescribed pills, only they will help completely cope with the fungus (if the damage is severe and there are no contraindications for the liver).
The drug of first and main choice is terbinafine (aka terbizil). It can be prescribed to children starting from 2 years old, the dosage depends on the child’s weight. Children under three years of age are prescribed treatment according to a pulse-shaped regimen: 10 days on, 10 days off. The course lasts a month or two.
Treatment with itraconazole and ketoconazole is controversial in practice: some doctors allow their use for onychomycosis (affected nails), others do not. The drugs have a wide effect profile, but that is why they are too strong for a child’s small body, especially affecting the liver - they are hepatoxic.
For a sustainable effect, systemic and local external treatment are combined. External preparations are produced under hundreds of trade names and in 20 dosage forms. It is important to choose one that is adequate in form and action.
Doctors often prescribe Terbizil, Exifin Mycoterbin creams, Exoderil cream and solution for children. They are applied to washed and dried skin of the foot 1-2 times a day for a week to two.
For interdigital and vesicular forms of the fungus, treatment is used with antifungal drugs combined with corticosteroids and antibacterial agents - Travocort, Pimafucort, Triderm, Exoderil. They are prescribed to children from 2 years of age.
Lamisil spray, solution and gel have not yet been studied, so doctors are wary of prescribing treatment for children under 12 years of age.
For very young children, only a doctor prescribes therapy. Most medications are used from the age of two. The doctor will be careful and use only local therapy in the form of low-concentration antimycotic powders or varnishes.
The strategy during this period is as follows: treating a fungus can harm a little person more than the fungus itself. Therefore, maintenance therapy is often used, waiting until the baby grows to be effective.
A wide variety of fungi live with a person throughout his life. Some of them are useful and necessary for humans. Others, such as nail and foot fungus, are pathogenic and cause a lot of trouble for their owner.
Just like in adults, fungus on the legs of a child can appear regardless of age if there are favorable factors for his life. Therefore, it is important for parents to know what a dangerous infection looks like in order to start treatment on time.
Fungal infections are called mycoses (from the Latin “mushrooms”) . There are many types of the disease, but the following types mainly occur on the legs:
Often this is a mixed infection, to which, in the presence of scratches and cracks in the skin, staphylococci and streptococci can join.
Mushrooms are a special type of life on earth, which has a distinctive feature - they can settle anywhere and feed on what they live on. If they live on the nail, they simply physically eat it away. And if they settle on the skin, they release their mycelium into the cells of the epidermis and feed on its scales.
After infection has occurred and the fungus has settled on the toes, the child’s immune system begins to produce antibodies to the pathogen. Since the body resists, inflammation of the affected area occurs.
The onset of infection with foot fungus in sick children can be missed, since in the first stages there is often only slight redness and peeling of the skin. Parents may attribute this to lack of hygiene or tight shoes, so you need to pay attention to the following areas of the foot:
Fungus between the toes can cause ulceration of the skin surface, which is a clear pathway for staph bacteria to enter. Also, a manifestation of a fungal infection can be cracked, flaky skin on the heels and sides of the feet.
The first sign of the disease on the nails is their uneven, wavy surface. The most commonly affected nails are the thumb and little finger. Parents also need to pay attention to the unnatural lag of the nail from the surface of the finger and the presence of stains on the nail plates.
A specific sign of a foot infection is a peculiar odor. It does not appear from sweating feet, as many people think, but occurs due to waste products of fungi and bacteria. Therefore, the appearance of an unpleasant odor from a child’s shoes and feet should alert parents.
The susceptibility of children's skin to fungus can be due to several factors:
But the main factor is a weakened immune system, which can also develop as a result of taking certain medications. Most often, antibiotics and hormonal drugs that suppress the immune system.
A child can become infected through someone else's shoes, or by running barefoot in public places (in the pool, on the beach, etc.). In this case, the places for the fungus to penetrate are:
Children themselves often do not pay attention to such “little things” as wet or sweaty feet. But if a child wears closed shoes for a long time, the fungus can develop on its own, since moist, loose skin is an excellent nutrient medium for it.
In very young children, infection is rare. As a rule, this occurs through close contact with a sick adult. At the same time, lack of baby skin care also plays a role. Diaper rash on the legs between the toes can be a favorable factor for many infections.
Only a dermatologist can determine the type of disease and prescribe the correct treatment. It is important to contact him as early as possible to prevent complications. Before treatment, your doctor may need to scrape the skin for analysis under a microscope. This method determines the type of fungus that has affected the foot.
For treatment, topical antifungal drugs (Terbizil, Exoderil) are prescribed, which can be used from 2 years of age. The drug that treats fungus must act for a long time to achieve the final result.
But the itching and inflammation that bothers the baby must be removed immediately, even before killing the fungus, since by scratching the skin, the child will contribute to the spread of infection. Therefore, anti-inflammatory drugs are used in the form of tablets, ointments and creams. Nowadays, in most cases, combination drugs are prescribed that act on fungus and inflammation simultaneously.
Treatment of a severe form of the disease, when ulcers and vesicles appear, will require the use of internal and external hormonal drugs - corticosteroids. In this case, the medical strategy for children is as follows: treatment can harm the child more than the fungus itself. Therefore, maintenance therapy is prescribed first, and treatment is carried out when the child is ready for it.
Treating foot fungus is quite difficult and takes a long time, so the best treatment is prevention. In this case, the following measures must be observed:
The situation requires special attention if there is already a sick person in the house. In this case, to prevent the disease, the child’s feet can be lubricated several times a day with special products, for example, Gribkosept. Do the same when visiting the beach or pool.
It’s a rare person who won’t be moved by touching photos of a newborn’s tiny feet that fit in the mother’s palm. New mothers are delighted with their baby's pink fingers and miniature nails. Unfortunately, often the skin and nails of children are affected by such an unpleasant disease as mycosis, or, more simply, fungus.
Unlike adults, foot fungus in a child, and in particular its treatment and diagnosis, is quite complex. Firstly, the younger the child, the more difficult it is to make a diagnosis: many forms of mycosis are asymptomatic, children cannot talk about their discomfort. Secondly, most antifungal drugs can cause allergies and are usually prescribed after the age of two years.
Mycosis (from other Greek “mushroom”) is an infectious disease, the appearance of which is provoked by various types of parasitic microorganisms. In the case of foot fungus in a child, these are usually the dermatophytes Trichophyton rubrum (more than 50%) and Trichophyton mentagrophytes (about 30%). Lesions may spread to the soles of the feet, between the toes and nails.
There are 4 clinical types of mycosis of the feet. This classification is relevant for both children and adults:
Since children's skin contains more water than the body of an adult, the course of the disease is more acute and “wet”. Sometimes, due to the fact that a child’s nail plates are renewed twice as fast as those of adults, the baby’s nails do not have time to deform appropriately during the development of the disease. But in any case, some changes will be present. The most common ones are:
Even if a child has several symptoms from the list, the final diagnosis can only be made by a dermatologist, based on scraping microscopy or DNA testing. Also, only a specialist should prescribe treatment. Self-medication, and even more so the use of systemic therapy, which is hepatoxic (negatively affects the liver), in the case of children can do more harm than good.
Before starting treatment for foot fungus in a child, you should try to determine the causes of mycosis. By eliminating them, you have already done half the battle, eliminating subsequent relapses.
It would seem that the fungus is a contact disease and extremely contagious. But how can a child become infected, especially if he is a baby a few months old? Let's look at the most common causes of infection with fungal diseases:
Additionally, children who have undergone antibiotic treatment and are exposed to stress are at risk. As well as those suffering from such serious diseases and conditions as:
The greatest effectiveness in curing foot fungus in a child comes from a combination of systemic therapy (medicines for oral administration) and local external treatment. But the choice of this type of therapy is not always rational. For example, systemic therapy is contraindicated for children under 2 years of age and children with liver problems. Doctors take special care when prescribing medications for infants: treatment can harm them more than the mycosis itself. In this situation, the baby is indicated for maintenance therapy while waiting for the moment when it grows to be effective.
The most common drugs for the treatment of fungus on the legs of a child:
Almost all types of fungus on a child’s feet are susceptible to traditional medicine. Unfortunately, they will not cope with severe stages of squamous-hyperkeratotic or vesicular forms of mycosis, but they can significantly alleviate the condition by relieving itching and drying out weeping ulcers.
Fungus between a child's toes is a serious disorder that requires urgent treatment, otherwise the child may suffer from allergic reactions, a decrease in the body's defenses, as well as the formation of pathogenic flora on the genitourinary organs and other body systems.
In order to recognize fungus on a child’s feet in time, it is necessary to understand its first manifestations. If the first signs of pathology are noticed, the child must immediately be taken to a specialist; only a highly qualified doctor will be able to correctly diagnose and prescribe effective drug treatment along with traditional methods.
Foot fungus in a child can appear after contact with objects that were previously used by an infected person, so it is necessary to protect the child from using them if there are such patients in the family. You should also pay due attention to ensure that the baby does not wear poor-quality shoes and that his feet are not constantly wet. Other causes of the disease include the following:
Note! It is very important, at any first manifestations of the disease, to consult a dermatologist. If you ignore the pathology, it will not go away without a trace; it will soon become chronic, in which case the therapy will be longer and more complex, with significant financial costs.
The presence of fungus on the feet of children is much easier to notice than in an adult, this is due to the fact that there is more water in the skin of children, so the symptoms are more pronounced. The most common signs of pathology include the following:
Under no circumstances should you get carried away with making your own diagnosis or treatment. Only a dermatologist should do this. The baby will have to undergo several tests, which include scraping and checking the condition of the DNA. If you do not adhere to these rules, the child may suffer even more, since, out of ignorance, parents are able to purchase drugs that have a detrimental effect on the baby’s liver.
If you suspect that your child has mycosis or onchemycosis, you should immediately contact a dermatologist, only he will be able to correctly prescribe effective treatment and protect the patient from possible complications. Parents need to understand that they cannot make decisions about purchasing medications on their own. Therapy is usually carried out at home with the simultaneous use of traditional methods.
In a standard situation, specialists prescribe complex treatment to patients, which involves the use of oral and external medications. The following medications are suitable for children:
Creams and gels must be applied at least 2 times a day. Treatment usually lasts 1-1.5 months. If the symptoms have disappeared and the child feels healthy, he should remain under the supervision of a doctor for some time, this will protect him from possible complications and the return of the disease.
To cure foot fungus in children using the folk method, the following 3 methods are most often used:
If a child is left without proper treatment for a long period of time, the pathology can provoke additional unwanted deviations. Nails are the first to suffer from complications; they can become deformed, change color and be difficult to cut. Further, the skin will succumb to changes, it will begin to crack, peel, hurt and emit an unpleasant odor.
If the disease takes a chronic form, the child will constantly be exposed to other fungal infections, which may also affect some internal organs. In this case, treatment will be very difficult and lengthy.
Parents should always remember several rules that will prevent fungus from reoccurring on their child’s foot, namely:
Onychomycosis is not exclusively an adult disease. Of course, nail fungus develops less frequently in children, but about 17% of them fall into the category of patients of a dermatologist or mycologist.
In the early stages of nail infection, it is difficult to detect fungus in a child. During the incubation period, the infection does not manifest itself with obvious symptoms. Obvious signs become noticeable only in the later stages, when the pathogen penetrates deep into the skin:
Initially, symptoms appear on the big toe or hands, then the disease affects the remaining plates. To prevent the spread of infection, a doctor’s help is necessary when the first signs appear.
For a baby, onychomycosis can become a genetic inheritance from a mother who neglected treatment during pregnancy. But the main way to acquire mycosis for children, as well as for adults, remains infection at home. The likelihood of the disease is especially high if there is a carrier in the family. The infection can be transmitted through:
The likelihood of infection is high when visiting public places with high levels of humidity and temperature. A particular threat to a child is visiting a swimming pool, where conditions for the pathogen are as favorable as possible. The source of infection can be a kindergarten, sports section, club, playground in the yard, etc. It is especially necessary to closely monitor the condition of children in the presence of chronic diseases, weakened immunity, and during periods of hormonal changes in the body. All this is a favorable background for the penetration of a fungal pathogen into the body and its pathological activity.
Nail fungus most often appears on the feet; in children, its symptoms are usually mild. The child does not experience severe itching or pain, and is not able to independently assess the danger of external changes on the surface of the nails. Therefore, all responsibility for the timely detection of alarming symptoms in children lies with the parents. The alarming changes are:
The doctor must confirm or refute the parents’ suspicions. He examines the child’s limbs, prescribes laboratory tests, makes a diagnosis based on them, and determines the means for drug therapy depending on the cause and degree of nail damage.
Antimycotic therapy is based on two types of medications and treatment regimens. When onychomycosis is detected at an early stage, treatment of the infection begins with external topical preparations. This category includes ointments, creams and solutions. Complex lesions of the nail plates can be cured with complex therapy, which combines the impact on the fungus from the outside with local drugs and from the inside with systemic medications. An obligatory part of the treatment is the disinfection of personal belongings and toys of children infected with the fungus:
Removing the plate in childhood is rarely used; nail fungus is relatively easy to treat in children with medication. Depending on the severity of the lesion, recovery occurs after 2 or 4 months.
For external treatment of fungus in children, the same local drugs are used, which are usually included in the list of antifungal agents for adults. When prescribing, contraindications are taken into account and an age-appropriate dosage is established. Of the external medications that have no age restrictions, the following are used to treat children:
Before applying external products, the surface of the nails is steamed in baths, usually with a soap-soda solution. The marigolds are trimmed from the free edge and, if necessary, treated with a file. The ointment or cream is applied in a thin layer with light massaging movements. The daily frequency of application is usually no more than 2 times. To use varnishes you need:
If severe deformation is present, treatment with external means is supplemented with hardware procedures, the surface of the nails is processed with a cutter, and the top layer, which is severely damaged by the fungus, is removed. The following tablet forms are used for the treatment of nail fungus in children:
Medicines in tablets act directly on the fungus from within the body, which allows you to completely get rid of the disease. For this reason, they should not be taken arbitrarily, without consulting a doctor, especially for treating children.
Official medicine does not consider folk remedies to be sufficiently effective, including in the treatment of nail fungus. But they are often recommended as auxiliary drugs that can cope with external symptoms, reduce the activity of the pathogen, and stop the spread of infection. These are self-prepared tinctures, decoctions, solutions, ointments, which are used in baths, compresses and rubbing. The components can be vegetables and fruits, pharmaceutical ointments and oils on a natural basis, herbal preparations. Examples of such remedies are:
Despite the natural origin of the components, some of them may be contraindicated, especially in combination with medications. To avoid troubles during the treatment process, you must follow the doctor’s instructions.
After completion, treatment of nail fungus in children requires prevention, which prevents relapses. Peculiarities of age require adult supervision over compliance with preventive measures. These include:
The risk of fungal diseases in an infant or older children requires regular monitoring by a doctor, which is also part of preventive measures.
Which doctor treats nail fungus in children?
Nail fungus in a child under one year of age is treated by a dermatologist whose specialization includes dermatitis and skin fungal diseases. If the diagnostic results require the involvement of a specialist, the dermatologist refers the patient to a mycologist. The latter is a specialist in the field of fungal infections.