– This is Tom Biernacki and today I'm going over the nine best
and scientifically proven athlete's foot home remedies. And we're gonna give you a big tip that ties it all together so stick around till the very end. We're starting now. (upbeat music) So there's a big trick to athlete's foot and it ties it all together. These home remedies work really well, but if you don't do this one
thing that we'll talk about and show studies for at the very end, then you're not going to have
a lot of success with these. So athlete's foot can form small blisters, itching, swelling, flaky feet, stinging. This is usually fungus between the toes that cause redness and irritation. And on thick skin, you
could see it with a UV light at our office, which is
what we sometimes do.
Here's kind of the quick disclaimer is make sure you see your doctor because it might not
always be athlete's foot. If you're red, hot and inflamed and you have an infection, go get that checked out. If you're in Michigan, come see us. If you have health
conditions like diabetes, blood flow problems, for
sure get that checked out. But we're starting right
now with tip number one, Epsom salt soaks or sea salt soaks. So basically this is dirt cheap, like we're talking $1, $2. Different types of salts work. But basically for the people
who live in like Miami or nice warm weather, these people never have athlete's foot if you go to the beach and soak, because salt and salt water
basically exfoliates your skin. It kills bacteria and fungus. You know, obviously there's
a lot of bad bacteria in the ocean as well that could give you skin problems as well but nice clean salt water or soaking for 15 to 20 minutes, this is one of my favorite things. So turn up some Netflix, soak your feet with some sea salt, get some amazing results
that works really well.
Look at how thick the skin here is. This is really the trick and there's not a lot of research studies but this is common sense to
me and I see it works so well. That thick outer layer,
dry skin right there, that's where the fungus lives because your immune system and blood flow does not get there. So in the office I would
trim that down for you but that's the idea of the salt soak. It gets in there and it's easier to pop those
thick skin regions off. And even though this is
such common sense to me, there's just no studies really
proving that this works. But like a 10-minute bath, that skin gets so soft and
basically starts crumbling off, the fungus just says nowhere to hide. Number two, this is a separate one, apple cider vinegar or vinegar. This has been proven over and over. You can create your own
apple cider vinegar baths. So we're talking like half or one-third apple cider
vinegar or vinegar. Sit for like 15 to 20 minutes
while you're watching some TV. Then, just clean off your foot.
Number three is combining the two. You can put sea salt. You can put Epsom salts or you can put vinegar with the salt. That creates like a foamy slurry. But that is a great
job, that's a great tip. It gets that skin down. It feels good after a
long work day or busy day. Three, hydrogen peroxide. So obviously hydrogen peroxide, that's what you apply to cuts, you know, to keep them clean.
Studies do show it will kill fungus. Is this my favorite? It's not my favorite because
it can burn your skin. It can create some damage. I had a patient once who basically caused gangrene of his feet because he was applying
too much hydrogen peroxide for like months because he
actually threw a blood clot and he thought it was foot fungus. I understand sometimes
people don't have access. That's why I feel bad even saying like, hey, go see a doctor because otherwise why are
you watching this video? But that's the kind of
stuff that could happen and that's why I have to throw that in. Just be safe. Number four, tea tree oil. So tea tree oil does great.
There's a lot of great studies. Tea tree oil has thymol in there. It kills fungus, it kills bacteria. It's a little bit more
expensive, you know? And the biggest problem
I think with tea tree oil is because it's a little
bit more expensive, people don't apply as much and thus they don't get
as good of a result. Even though tea tree
oil is very well proven, you know, that's kind of the downside, it's more expensive so people
are a little more greedy with how they apply it and thus it doesn't get great results. Vick's Vapor Rub, so I love Vick's Vapor Rub. It's low cost.
It's got thymol, eucalyptus
oil, menthol in there. All these things are
antifungal, antibacterial. You can get some on your feet
when you go to bed at night. And what happens is this does a great job. Also puts some on your toenails if you have toenail fungus as well. It's a great combination. You know, pretty much all these things also help for the toenails and that does a great job. So keep using that Vick's Vapor Rub Great option, I recommend it quite a bit.
Rubbing alcohol, so obviously
alcohol kills fungus. You know, so when patients come to clinic, that's what we do. We kind of clean off all
the feet, all the legs, we clean off all the dry skin, make sure it's not hiding in any cracks. That's what we use to,
and I can see that fungus, like disappearing before my very eyes. But here's the danger is a lot of these recommendations
that I see online, you can really damage your skin. You could create damage. If you're soaking your feet
in alcohol for too long, you know, it's really using
it at the proper rates and under the proper supervision. Most people probably be okay but some people will not. Garlic, so garlic is another one. So there's some great studies on garlic. So what they basically
do is crush the garlic. It puts it on the fungus on the skin. It's a great home
remedy, it's all natural, but the problem with this
is garlic stinks, you know, because I have daughters
with sensitive smell and a wife with sensitive smell.
I can't use this. You know, if you live by yourself, maybe you can get away with it and it seems a little bit expensive. Like peeling those garlic
cloves is a lot of work. I don't know about you but
I hate doing that stuff. And number nine, keep
the feet dry and clean. So fungus lives in dark places, kind of like a mushroom,
that mushroom joke.
What do you feed a mushroom? Like you give it crap and
leave it alone in the dark and don't tell it what's going on. That's what fungus is. And I make these jokes
because I'm also a fungi. so I'm allowed to do this.
(crown cheering) But the trick is you
can't wear the same socks over and over. If you have foot fungus,
change your socks every day, even maybe twice per day, like if you're a factory
worker on your feet all day.
I'm gonna link some socks below. You know, because it's always confusing. I say get socks that wick moisture but people always get confused. That's always the number one question. So just check out the ones I show below. You don't have to buy them from me. That's just some recommendations. Clean your shoes. If you have ugly, dirty gym shoes and you're going out
on a date or something, get like some Lysol spray, wash them, clean them. A lot of the things we talk
about clean out your shoes, you can use anti-sweat agents, so astringents and I'll
link some below too. You can use powders to dry out your feet. Lamisil powder works great. It's cheap, again, down below, rather than talking
about this for an hour, I just talk about which ones to get, and that probably can
help out a little bit.
Keep those feet dry, keep them clean, keep the sweat off as much as possible using all these strategies and make sure your shoe is
aerated as much as possible. Newer, more expensive
shoes tend to do this, but at the same time, like
leather-occlusive shoes, that means the ones that
don't let you breathe, they will smell, they will hold bacteria and fungus that just keeps reattacking your foot. So here's the big secret tip. I'm gonna actually give you two. Number one is you have
to trim your toenails and treat your toenail fungus as well. So if you clean your athlete's foot, but you have long toenails with some crud and some fungus underneath, it's like that fungus is in
a bunker like World War II, you know, where they'd drop the bombs and people were hiding underground, they'd come right out and
the bombs wouldn't get them. That's what happens with the fungus. You could use all these remedies, but if your toenails are not clipped, if your toenails are not filed down, and again, we have a great guide on how to take care of
your toenail fungus, then as soon as you're cured, it's gonna come out from your toenails and reattack your skin.
Same thing with your dirty
shoes and dirty socks. If you're not washing
them and cleaning them, the fungus comes right
back and attacks you. And the big, big tip, tip number two, the secret tip is studies show you have to do this stuff for at least four weeks. So everything we talked about here, so cleaning your feet,
cleaning your shoes, trimming your toenails, if you do it for two weeks, the success rate studies
have shown is like 50 to 60%. If you do it for four weeks or more, like using the different
creams, all the topical agents, that's when people have
like 90% relief, why? Because your skin takes at least
like 30 days to regenerate. So our skin has stem cells, it takes your skin time to push it out so you can have that fungus
hiding in those deep layers. And if you're not exfoliating,
if you're not cleaning, so that's kind of the goal
of that sea salt soaks to get deep down in there. You're not gonna have great results. So combining the soaks and a lot of these creams
does an amazing job.
But the big thing is if you
have blood flow problems, diabetes, if you have a bad diet, we have some great videos on great diets, sugar-free, car-free foods, keto diets, intermittent fasting. But come see your podiatrist,
get your diabetes, your blood flow problems, all that kind of stuff taken care of. I care about you guys. You know, I wanna see great results. This is a very important topic. So if you can share this with your friends on Facebook, on YouTube, and keep watching the videos. We'll see you on the next one. We have guides for everything. Keep watching, we appreciate
you and good luck..
