Athlete's Foot

In most cases, your doctor can diagnose athlete's foot (tinea pedis) by looking at your foot. He or she will also ask about your symptoms and any previous Reference fungal infections Opens New Window you have had.

If your symptoms look unusual or if a previous infection has not responded well to treatment, your doctor may collect a skin or nail sample by lightly scratching the skin with a blade or the edge of a microscope slide, or by trimming a nail. He or she will examine the skin and nail samples using laboratory tests including:

• Reference KOH (potassium hydroxide) preparation , to confirm the presence of fungi.
• Reference Fungal culture, to identify the type of fungus present.

In rare cases, a Reference skin biopsy will be done by removing a small piece of skin that will be looked at under a microscope.

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