Do I need to replace my slippers?
January 28, 2025 5:51 PM   Subscribe

My doctor prescribed a 12 week course of anti-fungals to try and fix my gross toes. Should I replace my slippers? If so, when?

I have quite expensive slippers, that I bought based on AskMe's recommendation. I don't really want to replace them, but I am wondering if the fungus we're are trying to kill could continue to inhabit the slippers and reinfect my feet?

I could replace them if that's the right thing to do, but when? Now, when I have started the treatment? Toward the end?

I have another pair at my mother's house that I only wear a couple of weeks a year. Will they be okay if I haven't worn them for months?

If I can treat them instead of replacing, with what? I put tinactin powder in them once and that was really, really bad for them and I had to scrape it all out to keep the wool from pilling and hurting my feet.
posted by jacquilynne to Health & Fitness (14 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Can you describe the construction of the slippers and tell us what kind of fungus you are dealing with?
posted by Mizu at 6:26 PM on January 28


Response by poster: The slippers are Halflinger hard sole slippers similar to these ones. So, boiled wool upper, fitted rubber base.

I am not sure what the fungus is exactly but some kind of yeast infection in my toenails.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:34 PM on January 28


Alcohol spray and sunlight.
posted by greta simone at 6:35 PM on January 28


Recently I've been heating wool in my oven at the lowest setting 170f (about 75C) to kill moth eggs. I've put the balls of wool in with the paper ball bands still on, and the bands have been undamaged. I feel extremely weird about putting slippers in the oven, but it seems like a lot of yeasts and fungus are killed at that temperature. The oven is great, because it heats things without agitation, but the clothes dryer could also be used to heat things and I think sometimes there are racks you can put in the dryer so things can be heated without being tossed around.

If a dry heat isn't an option, I think I would then consider using a garment steamer.

A heat treatment would be good for your situation, because it would be easy to repeat on the slippers over the course of your treatment.
posted by ice-cream forever at 7:04 PM on January 28 [4 favorites]


Sunlight doesn't do anything, dry heat doesn't do anything, and freezing doesn't do anything either. You have to wet wash fungus with hot water and soap. It's an incredibly resilient life form that can survive long periods of dormancy. ✨just fungus things 🍄

Sure, laundering may ruin the slippers, but if the alternative is throwing them out it's worth a try.
posted by phunniemee at 8:12 PM on January 28 [5 favorites]


Had a quick scan of the literature and it seems that similar to bacteria, Candida yeasts (making an assumption that's what you've got but could be wrong!) are vulnerable to application of ~75% ethanol (though I am sure ~75% isopropanol would do the same thing). They are also vulnerable to heat if they haven't become heat tolerant, allegedly, so if you can heat them at 60 degrees Celsius for a while (probably an hour or so to be safe) that should be enough to outwit the heat shock proteins.

Not sure how that works with your slippers, though.
posted by BeeJiddy at 8:27 PM on January 28


Wear them with socks. I get athlete's foot pretty easily unless I wear socks with almost all footwear except Keens and Crocs, which are synthetic, ventilated, and easily washed.
posted by theora55 at 8:46 PM on January 28 [2 favorites]


I launder my brothers all wool felt Swedish brand slippers in the machine and air dry. He has MSA, which is related to ALS. One symptom is curling under of toes. The slippers help him walk better but they get pretty funky. I felt the dryer might shrink them. In summer they go out on the midday sun.
posted by Czjewel at 9:21 PM on January 28


Oral antifungal medications are usually really hard on the organs, especially I think kidneys. To be on them for three months and risk possibly getting reinfected by even beloved slippers, would be the worst to me. Like maybe not worth trying to keep the slippers imo (& YMMV). In that situation I might just say goodbye to them, sadly.

However, if I were NOT taking oral antifungals and instead using a (much lower risk) prescription topical medication, I would soak the slippers in Head & Shoulders shampoo + water for a long time, rinse well & dry them with newspapers inside by a fire or oil-filled radiator, do it again, make sure they’re 100% dry. I would store them elsewhere until my feet were better. BTW the Head & Shoulders works on feet and toes, too — soak in a foot bath for 20 mins every day for a while.

It takes a longer time to treat fungal infections with topical meds, but you might find it worthwhile.

During treatment/until it goes away: I would wear plastic sandals/slippers like Crocs + socks at home. 2 pairs of sandals so they can be disinfected with Lysol on alternate days. Likewise for boots or runners. To disinfect daily, get some Lysol and spray paper towels. Fill the boots you wore that day with the paper towels and leave them in overnight. (Sandals just spray them.)

To prevent reinfection, initially give the floors a good Lysol clean then make sure to not go barefoot. Use a fresh towel every shower and keep it separate from anyone else’s towels so it’s not going between surfaces all the time. Obviously fresh socks every day and wash them frequently & keep them separate from other stuff.

Am close to people who get this, very frustrating I know.
posted by cotton dress sock at 9:56 PM on January 28 [2 favorites]


Perhaps ask your dermatologist or podiatrist (whichever doctor prescribed the anti fungal)? Maybe also give Haflinger a call about how to care for the slippers.

I had several pair of Haflingers in the past that I loved and washed, although they weren't hard soled (they were the wool bottomed ones with the little rubber dots). Unfortunately, the wool insole lining separated in almost every single pair after I washed them.

I washed them as a last resort after having run ins with puppy puddles and didn't really have much to lose. They were very well loved and worn out at that point, and the soles were coming away from the tops in some of the sections, near the last few toes.
posted by dancinglamb at 1:29 AM on January 29


From some quick research - UV light does seem to help kill Candida, although how to get UV light to reach all of the parts of slippers that touch your feet would be another problem to solve.

I see small UV light devices for sale but whether they do what they say and whether the cost is a reasonable amount of additional money to throw at this problem is uncertain. (The article linked above in PubMed recommending laundering with hot water does not mention sunlight/UV as ineffective.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 2:55 AM on January 29


Replace them. Ask your doctor when. As cotton dress sock says, oral antifungals are hard on the liver. It's not worth getting reinfected from your slippers (plus, either wool, glue or cork -- or maybe all three -- probably won't like whatever you do that might actually fully kill this fungus). That said, this stuff is in the environment everywhere and it's easy to get again.
posted by Text TK at 5:38 AM on January 29 [2 favorites]


My daughter used my slippers while she had a nail fungus thing and I caught it. I'm still a bit mad at her about it, I mean she knew she has a contagious infection. It takes ages to get rid of the effects, but TBH, the infection itself goes away pretty easily. I might even think your cure is overdoing it a bit.
I still used those slippers till Saturday, when I threw them out because they were really too old and I needed the space in my luggage.
In other words: relax. Use cotton socks until the infection is gone, perhaps change them twice a day. You can dry out your slippers in the oven or put them in the freezer for a few days, but really you don't have to worry. There are fungi everywhere all the time, and they are usually not a problem until you get an overload. Even shoes that have some fungi in them are not normally a problem, they become a problem when there is a combination of a lot of spores and a moist environment. I don't know if you can find Rodalon where you are? It is the best for all types of fungal infection. You can soak your slippers in a Rodalon mixture and they will be fine.
posted by mumimor at 5:55 AM on January 29


I have put halflinger slippers through a gentle cold wash and air dry with no ill effects. But I don’t have your exact model of slipper (they are also hard soled with the boiled wool upper though).

Boiled wool is basically as felted as you’re going to get. So I would suspect gentle laundering would not lead to any catastrophic effects.
posted by eekernohan at 10:52 AM on January 29


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