Wearing shoes that are made of breathable material, using clean and absorbent socks and using athlete s foot powders to keep the area dry can help. Another part of the treatment involves the use of medicated anti-fungal creams such miconazole, clotrimazole and others to kill the fungus would solve the problem. Practicing bad foot hygiene can allow the fungus to thrive and breed easily. The fungus lives off the dead skin cells in your foot and it will be just a matter of time until the symptoms of the infection becomes evident. With the infection slowly developing, the skin surrounding your foot becomes dry and scaly. Lightness is of course highly essential because trudging along many flights of stairs or covering long distances will not be as tiresome when you are wearing the right footwear. Checking your shoes in relation to how it allows air to come in through it is also good. If ever you need to wear socks, make sure you change when you perspire heavily or whenever you feel uncomfortable. Aside from having direct contact to the person or the object that has been infected, athlete s foot can also be transmitted through contact with pets that carry it the fungus on their furs. Diagnosis of athlete s foot usually depends on the appearance of the foot to know its status and what exactly caused it. These symptoms are quite apparent in the toe webs or the skin between the toes where the fungus thrives. If the condition is more serious, heavy blistering, peeling, and cracking of the skin and occasional bleeding may be evident along with the appearance of white and wet scales on the foot s surface. And remember this, once the fungus inhabit your shoes, it will be really hard to make it go away. But how does this fungus get into your shoes? Simple. When you use public facilities where there is moisture, these fungus adhere to the outer layers of the skin. When not washed out and dried, this fungus can live inside your shoes or await another foot, which it can adhere to the next.