Home Remedies for Fungal Infection

Home care can support treatment by keeping the skin dry and clean. It cannot replace antifungal medicine for an established infection.

What helps

• Keep the area clean and dry. Wash daily with mild soap and dry well, especially skin folds and between the toes.
• Wear loose cotton clothing and change sweaty clothes, socks and underwear promptly.
• Use your own towel and wash it in hot water after each use. Do not share towels, combs, razors or shoes.
• Wash bedding and clothes regularly, and dry them in strong sunlight where possible.
• Wear sandals in public wet areas like bathrooms and pools.
• Use plain talcum or antifungal powder only if a doctor advises it.
• Avoid scratching, which can spread the infection and cause infection by bacteria.
• Treat the whole family if several people are affected, as advised by the doctor.

What not to do

• Do not use steroid creams or steroid-antifungal combination creams bought without a prescription. They can make the infection worse and cause thin skin and resistant disease.
• Do not apply lemon, toothpaste, turmeric, garlic or kerosene on the rash.
• Do not stop treatment as soon as itching eases. Finish the full course.
• Do not use leftover tablets or creams from earlier episodes.

Oral thrush and vaginal infections

These need a proper diagnosis. Do not self-treat repeated episodes without advice.

See a doctor if

No improvement in two weeks, rash spreading, scalp or nails affected, you have diabetes or weak immunity, or the infection is in a baby or during pregnancy.