annoyed at the advice of pharmasist

[girlfriend44]

Have had to go to the pharmacy for athletes foot cream which has come on recently.
The pharmasist came out and said I would need to throw all my shoes and socks away? Who can afford or want to throw all their shoes away? Cant happen?

I Since read you can wash your socks at 60 degrees and also get spray for your shoes?
AIBU to think was crazy advice?

My pharmacist also said that I had lyme disease when I had a reaction to a bite from my holiday.

GP firmly disagreed and was right.

Yeah that’s madness. Throw all your socks and shoes away indeed.

its athletes foot not highly contagious leprosy.

I've worked in pharmacy for 12 years now and never heard of throwing away shoes and socks! And yes you can get athletes foot spray for your shoes anyway! The brand Scholl do one.

Actually, atheletes foot is significantly more contagious than leprosy (which isn’t very contagious at all).

YANBU, you can very much just use the shoe spray and wash socks at a high temp.

Make sure you use the cream for longer than you think though to ensure the athletes foot is completely gone.

As an aside i agree that sometimes pharmacists seem to not listen and it can be very frustrating. I had something wrong with my eye and had gone to see the pharmacist at Boots, I noted I had tried X and it hadn't worked, so they sold me Y for about £20.

As I turned to leave I noticed the active ingredient of Y was identical to X, I mentioned this to the pharmacist whose was completely not bothered......but they did agree to give me a refund.

Went to an independent pharmacy afterward, where the pharmacist spent a long time talking to me about the issue, gave me some excellent advice,told me I didn't need to buy anything and needed to wait another couple of days for the eye to settle. She was right and my eye resolved itself!

You’ve missed my point a bit there 🙈

should i say anything?

IME once the infection is in your shoes it's in there. 60' won't kill everything.

Up to you. Would you be making a special trip back or are you still standing there?

Baking soda. Baking soda. baking soda.

The ones you can wash safely wash. Use napisan or soda crystals.
I would do the same for socks also.

Pharmacists are basically glorified pill dispensers. Very rarely do they offer useful advice. Nothing that you could find online. It’s scary that this government is expecting them to fill the role of GPs just lately.

That advice is completely over the top. I wouldn’t bother saying anything. Just ignore

Chemist may have been correct as shoes worn without sock can reinfnect etc

Dont have a go at me please I am not a chemist but going by what a doc said to a work pal years ago

Pharmacists have completed a four year degree course in pharmacy followed by a further year’s training. One of their functions is to ensure the prescription doesn’t contain errors, eg 0.1 instead of 0.01. “Glorified pill dispensers” is a long way from the truth.

poor advice throwing all shoes and socks out.

@Alcyoneus , I suppose you think GPs are just glorified dug pedlars too.

Make sure you dry between your toes properly to try and stop it coming back.
Use a hairdryer on a cool setting.

What rot. I'm a nurse and work with pharmacists, they're an absolute fountain of knowledge.

A pharmacist told a very anxious patient a few weeks ago that his chest infection could/sounds like it could be lung cancer and he needs an urgent scan. I don't listen to advice from a pharmacist unless it's something simple like a cream for dry skin etc.

Never heard of this, I had it recently and just put the cream on my foot and washed my socks in the washing machine on 30 as normal. Didn’t do anything to the shoes. It all cleared up just fine

TBF the spores can live for years and can be hard to eliminate entirely from socks and shoes even with a 60C wash and sprays.

The socks you can hot wash at 90 or tumble dry or iron well to kill the spores. The shoes I think it depends what type- normal leather shoes I’d use the spray but tbh manky trainers that you’ve sweated into and are textile heavy can be quite tricky and I think the spores do sometimes survive the spray which is probably not going to penetrate sufficiently. Personally I’d give it a try but if the AF keeps coming back think about replacing. Fungal spores are quite hardy!
did you ask to see the actual pharmacist?

I have hyperhidrosis - I sweat a lot

I have to leave my shoes to dry, after spraying with Miconazole, Tolnaftate and Scholl's disinfectant spray

Still doesn't stop me getting athlete's foot during the summer

How rude

Pharmacist also said my son was fine when he had a swelling on his eye that turned out to be periobital cellulitis.

Pharmacists aren’t GP’s. Thier expertise is drugs and drug interactions. Pharmacists have also prevented me from taking a tablet that I shouldn’t have been prescribed as it interferes with both thing I was on.