About Skin Yeast Infections

Yeast infections can affect anyone anywhere. It does not matter what race, sex or age you are or where you live. A yeast infection is also not a sexually transmitted disease. Yeast lives and resides on our skin and it is not something that is visible unless it actually causes an infection. Generally the infection happens in an area that is moist and warm and you will be red, itchy and scaly.

Skin yeast infections generally develop in areas of our bodies where skin meets skin, such as under the arms, along the inner thigh and under the breast. It can also be found under fingernails, under toenails as well as in the webs of fingers and toes as in athlete’s foot. When visible it may look similar to the diaper rash you see on a baby. Also, white patches in the mouth can be a sign of a yeast infection.

A yeast infection is affected by a number of things from tight clothing to poor hygiene and even humidity; topical steroids can also be a contributing factor.

Generally you can use antifungal creams that are a part of the “azole” family of medicines to treat skin yeast infections. For severe cases where there is some skin irritation and itching you can mix the antifungal cream with hydrocortisone cream to help with the itching. Bathing daily and drying off very well and using powder to absorb excess moisture will help in the reduce the chances of skin yeast infections. Wearing clothing made from cotton is also beneficial to avoid future outbreaks.

Generally yeast infections are not contagious; however there have been times when a person has passed a yeast infection on to someone else via direct contact. Even though there is nothing that says that intercourse should not happen when you are being treated for a yeast infection, the infected person will generally find it uncomfortable dependent upon the area of infection. Also there have been times when men have begun having itching and a rash after intercourse with a partner that has a yeast infection.

Although a yeast infection is not a pretty sight and can be embarrassing should it break out on the skin it is not something that a person should be ashamed of. It is the same as any other skin infection that people are prone to get, such as ringworm. You cannot get a yeast infection from another persons skin just by touching it, someone else’s yeast missing with another’s will not normally cause an infections. If however you have an open sore, cut, wound and your immune system is low then you are more at risk to getting a yeast infection of your own through the contact. In order for the yeast to cause an infection it needs to multiply.

Yeast is generally not a bad fungus unless you have too much. Yeast on the skin can usually be taken care of with proper medicines and keeping the area clean and dry. The reason behind the yeast infections also needs to be discovered so that it can be avoided in the future.

If you discover that you have skin yeast infections that reoccur often then you may need to change something in your diet. By keeping a log of what you eat and seeing what causes the problem you will be able to find any allergies that you may have that is causing the infections.