Category Archives: Questions & Answers

Questions & Answers

Cutaneous Candida: A Primer

Cutaneous Candida is a skin-based yeast infection. Many types of yeast can infect the skin – not just Candida. There is also Geotrichum, Trichurus, and many others.

Fungal infections favor areas that are dark, moist, and warm. Folds of skin, under the breasts, between fingers and toes, around the toenails, the groin, and inside the ears are all good environments for fungi, particularly if you sweat a lot. Given their love of warmth, fungal infections are understandably more common in hotter climates.

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Some of the habits that can lead to cutaneous fungal infections include wearing socks in warm climates and wearing rubber boots on a regular. In both cases, the feet are kept overly moist. I’ve seen clients who work in meat packing plants and other processing facilities come down with cutaneous fungal infections due to the ongoing moisture exposure. Welders or mechanics working with hot tools are also at increased risk.

If you regularly wear a construction hat or earphones at work, you may be creating the dark, warm environment conducive to fungal infections.

If you would like more information, the playlist on my YouTube channel includes several videos about cutaneous Candida. Some of the videos review assessment and other looks at treatment protocols for skin-based fungal infections.

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Questions & Answers, Yeast Infection Signs And Symptoms

Why Do I Have Cutaneous Candida?

Candida does well in moist, warm, dark environments. Keeping that in mind, there are several risk factors for skin-based Candida infections:

1. Skin that is too moist: If your skin is not exposed enough to the sunlight and fresh air, Candida may thrive. If you are a larger person, try, if you can, to lose some weight. Skin folds are keys areas for Candida to colonize.

If you are a person who wears socks all the time, spend some more time going bare feet.

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There are benefits to walking bare feet (aka grounding). Walking bare feet has a fantastic effect on your immune system. Some people wear socks and shoes all the time – that’s crazy.

Allow fresh air and sunshine to get around the foot.

2. Lack of air circulation: If you have Candida of the ears, watch out for wearing earphones or earplugs all the time. This stops the air flow from getting into the area and drying out the ear.

If you have Candida in the groin, keep your pubic hair short. Use a hairdryer to gently dry the area to make up for the poor air circulation in that region of the body.

3. Unrelenting warmth: If you have a job that involves ongoing exposure to heat, like welding, find a way to keep cool.

Look at your habits. Do you regularly do things that keep your skin warm, moist, and dark? If you want to prevent or reduce cutaneous Candida, change the habits that are putting you at risk of that type of infection.

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Questions & Answers

Red and Itchy: Key Symptoms of Cutaneous Candida

Cutaneous Candida infections can be found in several areas, including the groin, the feet, and the ears. Skin-based Candida infections typical present with redness of the skin. At first, the color change can be very subtle, but over time the redness becomes more prominent.

Itchiness is another characteristic symptom of a Candida infection of the skin. The severity of the itchiness can range from mild to excruciating. It the skin is extremely itchy, there is a risk of breaking through the skin if you itch too vigorously. Keep your fingernails short to reduce the risk of damaging your skin. Breaking the surface of your skin due to scratching puts you at risk of developing a serious skin infection, so try and avoid that at all costs.

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May people with cutaneous Candida complain of a burning sensation in the affected area. Scratching the rash can intensify the burning feeling.

Clearly, cutaneous Candida can be associated with significant discomfort. Thankfully, these are treatable rashes. My treatment recommendations for skin-based Candida can be found on my YouTube channel.

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Questions & Answers

Treating Cutaneous Candida with Lifestyle Changes and CanXida

Effective treatment of cutaneous Candida is not about doing one thing. It’s about doing several things.

I have my clients look at their diets and lifestyle. Next, we consider supplement options and topical treatments. But first, make sure it’s Candida that is causing the problem. There are other skin conditions, such as psoriasis, that can look like Candida but require a different treatment approach.

The recommendations I regularly make when it comes to treating cutaneous Candida include the following:

Diet: Follow the MEVY (meat-eggs-vegetables-yogurt) diet discussed in my Candida Crusher book. Stop feeding the infection by eating sugary food and take-out.

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Lifestyle: Take a careful look at your lifestyle. If you can identify anything that is contributing to the Candida, take countermeasures. For example, when I was in my twenties, I had a bad yeast infection of the skin. I was spending a lot of time in the water and needed to work on keeping my skin much drier. When I made that change, the rash improved markedly.

If you have a fungal infection of the toenails, you will need to keep the skin between the toes very dry. If you have a fungal infection of the ear, avoid wearing earphones, earplugs, or having hair that gets into your ears.

Supplements: Check out the CanXida Remove, CanXida Restore, and CanXida Rebuild. These products work beautifully along with skin-based products to address cutaneous Candida infections.

Topical (skin-based) products: Tea tree oil is a wonderful skin-based product. You can get tea tree oil soap. Use this soap to wash around the creases, folds, and your groin if you have fungal infections in these areas. Essential oils can also help manage cutaneous fungal infections.

You should be an active participant in your recovery from cutaneous Candida. Don’t solely rely on medications, even if they are natural ones. Instead, make sure you are making diet and lifestyle choices that support your recovery from the Candida.

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Questions & Answers

What are the Gender Differences Related to Candida?

I was once told by a doctor that I couldn’t have a problem with Candida because I didn’t have a vagina. What a dumb thing to say! Candida and other yeasts can cause infections in both men and women. When it comes to Candida infections, it seems to affect women and men equally. Anyone can get an overgrowth of Candida. For approximately 25% of people, Candida naturally occurs in their digestive system. Some of this 25% end up with overgrowth of the yeast – a phenomenon that afflicts men and women in equal numbers.

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The site of yeast infections can vary based on gender. Some men suffer from “jock itch” which is caused by a non-Candidal yeast. The female equivalent would be vaginal yeast infections. Both men and women can get yeast infection in the folds of their skin if they are significantly overweight.

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