Athlete's foot is easy to treat. Even if you've had it for a long time you should still be able to get rid of the infection. But you may have to treat it for a few weeks.

In most of the studies that we found, people treated their athlete's foot for about four weeks. But you may need to treat yours for longer if it's more severe.

The drugs used to treat athlete's foot are called antifungals. This means they kill the fungus or stop it from growing.

Most treatments come as creams, gels or lotions that you rub into your skin. Some come as sprays. And others come as a powder that you put in your socks and shoes to keep from getting athlete's foot again. You can buy many of these treatments from a drugstore without a prescription.

Occasionally your doctor may give you a prescription for pills that get rid of infections caused by funguses. But there's no evidence that pills work better than other treatments. And they may have more side effects.

• It's important to treat athlete's foot. If you don't, it can spread and it will be harder to treat.
• Creams, gels or lotions that you rub into your skin work well.
• You're less likely to get side effects from creams or gels than you are from pills.
• You may have to treat your infection for some time, possibly for as long as six weeks.
• Rub any cream, gel or lotion into your skin really well so your skin doesn't feel wet. Funguses like to grow in damp places.
• If you have athlete's foot between your toes, sprays may be a better treatment.