Itching skin. Picture: Pexels
Experiencing scaly patches on your skin? Constant itching, or overlapping rings? This could be an indication that you may have a ringworm.
This condition has been around for decades and continues to bring discomfort to many people having to live their day to day lives enduring it.
According to medical information publication, Cleveland Clinic a ringworm the simplest way to define a ringworm is to know that it is an itchy fungal infection that causes a ring shaped pattern on the surface of the skin.
“You might be surprises to learn that a fungus – and not a worm – causes ringworm. Fungi thrive in warm and humid areas such as locker rooms and public showers. This common and contagious skin infection gets its name from the red itchy, ring-shaped akin plaque (a type of scaly rash). It spreads easily through close contact,” highlights Cleveland Clinic.
Furthermore, health and wellness notes that while many forms of ringworms may exist, there are two that commonly affects human beings, these are the tinea corporis (ringworm on the body) and tinea capitis (ringworm on the scalp).
These are some symptoms of a ringworm as highlighted by Healthline:
- Itchiness
- Scaly patches that are red, brown or grey
- Flat round patch of skin or raise skin called plaques
- Patches that develop blisters
- Overlapping rings
- Hairloss
The above-mentioned publication highlights that this is very contagious and can be transferred through multiple ways, namely human to human, animal to human, object to human and soil to human.
Health experts Mayco Clinic highlights that because there are so many versions that do exist, it is important to seek medical advice for an accurate diagnosis and treatment.
Also see: 7 Ways to identify nail fungus
