What kinds of fungal infections affect the feet?
Basically there are two different kinds of fungal infections. One is a nail infection, which is called onychomycosis, and then the other one is a skin infection, what is called tinea pedis, commonly known as athlete’s foot. What causes these infections? Fungus is in the same class of organisms as mushrooms, yeast and molds. They’re basically organisms that grow on dead or dying tissue. The outer layer of our skin and our nails are dead tissue. In other words, they don’t have blood flow to them, and they become hard and thickened and allow us to have kind of a water-proof surface. So when someone has a fungal infection, the fungus gets into those tissues and starts to grow.
