General Information about Lotrisone
Lotrisone cream contains a combination of an antifungal medication with a steroid, working to both cure any existing regions of infection as well as relief adverse symptoms, such as itching or swelling, that were caused by the infection. The respective active ingredients are clotrimazole and betamethasone, can be used to treat any acute symptoms as well as prevent future outbreaks.
Treatment with Lotrisone allows to treat the following fungal infection of the skin:
- Athlete's foot - fungal infection of the foot that causes peeling, redness, itching, and burning;
- Jock itch - red, itchy rash caused by a skin infection of tinea fungus on the genitals, buttocks or inner thighs;
- Ringworm - a type of skin infection caused by tinea corporis fungus that appears as red, circualar, and slightly swollen sore;
While the antifungal component can treat and prevent the mentioned types of infection, the steroid part of this cream will allow the patient to relieve any existing symptoms that often accompany an infection, including:
- Dryness, itching, stinging or burning;
- Inflammation, swelling, redness, rash;
- Scaling or flaking of the skin.
While Lotrisone has proven to be considerably effective in what it does, it may not be suited for every patient's condition. Treating any type of infection is most effective when employing the help of a professional physician who will help to identify the cause of distress as well as suggest several means of its treatment. While you can buy Lotrisone cream online and commence the treatment without any professional help, using antifungal drugs and steroids without proper medical advice can prove to be dangerous to your health. Also, it is not advised to use this medication in children younger than 17 years old. In general, combining drugs of these types will improve their effectiveness and stimulate rate of patient's recovery, while increasing the possible risk of side effects. For children, it is better to take a safer yet longer route in treatment.
Combining Steroids with Antifungal Drugs
Although such a combination is not very common among these types of medications, the unique formulation of Lotrisone brings up several important aspects of its function. Betamethasone, the steroid component of this cream, unlike other drugs in this class does not cause water retention, allowing the skin to recuperate without enforcing excessive dryness. This along with the action of clotrimazole, the antifungal component, allows to fight the infection at a more rapid rate, while reducing the severity of unpleasant consequences of that infection. However, since the two active ingredients within Lotrisone are completely unrelated in their pharmaceutical function, using this drug may in some cases put more stress on the patient's body. This happens because the organism has to process and deal with two completely different substances at the same time in the same area of the skin, and while this combination may be much more effective in the treatment of infection and its symptoms, the risk of side effects is slightly higher than that of similar medications. It may not be wise to buy clotrimazole and betamethasone cream online if you had not been told by your doctor that this drug is the best suited medication in your condition or if you had not tried any other, milder drugs first to attempt to cure your symptoms.
Recommendations on Using Lotrisone Cream
As is the case with any medication, Lotrisone will only be effective if it is used in perfect accordance to the indicated instructions and directions, provided by the manufacturer of this product. These instructions are available in full detail, listed on the instructions leaflet found within the medication package.
To supplement these instructions, provided here are some of the basic directions that may help use Lotrisone cream with more efficiency:
- Before using Lotrisone, make sure you are not allergic to either clotrimazole or betamethasone, as well as to any inactive ingredient within the cream. Whether you choose to buy clotrimazole and betamethasone cream online or obtain it from a local pharmacy, the pharmacist there will be able to help you find out if your particular allergies will prove to be dangerous during the treatment with Lotrisone.
- Only apply a thin, film-like layer of Lotrisone cream over the affected area. Applying this medication too thickly will not bring any additional benefits and will only because you to use more cream then intended, possibly making you run out of Lotrisone before you finish the therapy. For this same reason, if you buy Lotrisone cream online make sure you purchase enough to last through the whole session of treatment. Stopping the use of Lotrisone abruptly for any reason may cause the antifungal component to become ineffective, making it pointless to use this medication any longer.
- Do not cover the area where you applied Lotrisone cream with tight bandages or clothing. Doing so will increase the amount of steroid that will get absorbed through the skin, possibly increasing the risk of side effects. If you cannot avoid wearing tight clothing over the affected area (e.g. wearing socks when treating athlete's foot), choose a time during the day or at the evening when you can wait at least an hour before covering the area where you have applied the cream.
The symptoms of fungal infection usually subside over 2 weeks of treatment, depending on the condition being treated. However, if you have been using Lotrisone cream for over 15 days and still notice no significant improvement to your symptoms, or the improvement is only partial (e.g. the inflammation is gone but the itching and scaling persists), you may need to contact your doctor and ask for further instructions. You may need to use a different medication or try a different approach to the treatment.