Q I'm a university student in my 20s. Can athlete's foot be cured completely, or do I have to manage it for life?
A Skin tinea (of the feet and body) can be completely cured with appropriate antifungal treatment. However, because the recurrence rate is high, environmental management remains important even after treatment. Onychomycosis (nail fungus) takes more than three to six months to cure and has a relatively lower cure rate.
Detailed Answer
Tinea pedis and tinea corporis are usually completely cured with two to four weeks of treatment using topical antifungals. The problem is the high recurrence rate. Even after a cure, reinfection occurs readily when wearing the same shoes or using the same towels, using shared facilities, or when immunity is weakened. Onychomycosis requires six to twelve months of oral antifungal treatment because of the slow growth rate of nails, with a cure rate of around 60 to 80 percent.
Korean Medicine Clinic Perspective
Dongjedang's treatment philosophy is to build "a body that does not relapse." When the Spleen-Stomach damp-heat constitution improves, the skin environment becomes one in which external fungi find it difficult to take hold even if they enter again. Through heat-clearing, detoxifying treatment and lifestyle management, we aim to lengthen the interval between recurrences and, over the long term, reach a state where the body's own immunity suppresses the fungi.
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