If you have an itchy spot in your armpit, a suspicious white film around your fingernails, or red rash on your upper thigh, it might be more than a skin irritation?it could be a yeast infection. That?s right, they don?t just happen in the vagina.
?I regularly get a yeast infection in the skin fold under my C-section scar,? says Britt Gray*, a 43-year-old mom of two from Toronto. At first, she wasn?t sure what it was, but the area was red, itchy and had a smelly discharge. ?I knew it was some kind of infection, but I was surprised when my doctor said it was a yeast infection on my belly.?
What is a yeast infection"
We all host a range of bacteria and fungus. They can live in hair, around nails, and in the outer layers of the skin. Some skin site infections are caused by a dermatophyte fungus; other times it?s candida, the same yeast fungus that causes vaginal yeast infections. ?Yeast is a normal part of the microbiome of the vagina,? says Dr. Tali Bogler, chair of family medicine and obstetrics at St. Michael?s Hospital in Toronto. ?If you did a vaginal swab at any given time, 20 to 30 percent of us would have candida.? It only becomes a problem when the yeast overgrows.
What causes a yeast infection"
A string of steamy summer days can create the right environment for yeast to grow (and overgrow), particularly in spots where moisture can be trapped, like under the breasts, between thighs and in skin folds. Minor skin trauma following a leg wax, a weakened immune sy...