Inner Thigh Chafing: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention (2024)

FAQs

Inner Thigh Chafing: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention? ›

Common causes include intense exercise, ill-fitting clothes, excess skin and hot weather. Prevention includes wearing appropriate clothing and using anti-chafing products or petroleum jelly.

The American Academy of Dermatology recommends using petroleum jelly to help treat and prevent thigh chafing. Cover the irritated skin and any blisters with a small amount of petroleum jelly. This helps to protect the area, and may help it heal faster.

Rough and heavy fabrics that rub against the sensitive parts of your skin can cause chafing. Poor-fitting clothes like underwear or shorts that are too tight can also lead to thigh chafing. Remember cotton and other fabrics absorb moisture. Wet clothing rubbing against your skin will lead to chafing over time.

Skin chafing should be treated, so don't ignore it. Gently clean the chafed area with water and dry it thoroughly. After cleaning the area, apply a substance like petroleum jelly. If the area is very painful, swollen, bleeding, or crusted, your health care provider may recommend a medicated ointment.

In a pinch, Johnston also uses Vaseline or Neosporin's pain relief formula to treat chafe. Clark says to avoid “any scented lotions or balms that have added fragrance” when treating chafing too.

Treat chafed skin twice a day with a zinc oxide ointment (often used in diaper rash products) or a balm, such as Aquaphor Healing Ointment or Eucerin Original Healing Cream to soothe the abrasion and restore damaged skin.

Moisturize the Chafed Area

Even though chafing can be caused by perspiration and moisture, protecting the skin with good moisture can help soothe pain. Apply a “gentle and bland” moisturizing lotion like Lubriderm or CeraVe to the area as needed to help calm down irritation and manage the pain.

Lubricate Your Skin – A bit of lubrication will help your thighs glide past each other, rather than pulling or rubbing the skin. Apply Vaseline® Jelly to the insides of the thighs before exercising or walking to effectively help protect against chafing.

Use petroleum jelly or baby powder on chafed areas until the skin heals. You can also use these before activities to prevent chafing in easily irritated areas, for example, on your inner thighs or upper arms before running.

How do you heal chafing overnight? ›

How long chafing takes to heal. Chafed skin will heal once the skin barrier has had a chance to repair itself. Anecdotal evidence suggests that if a person can protect the chafed skin from further damage, chafing should improve within 2–7 days.

Chafed skin takes one to two days to heal, as long as it is treated immediately. If you leave chafed skin unattended or continue to participate in activities that exacerbate it, the chafed area can take longer to heal or become worse over time.

If left untreated, chafing and rashes can develop into bacterial or fungal infections, necessitating additional medical attention. If you notice any changes in the colour of your skin, see a dermatologist straight away so you can take action before any significant infections take root.

Chafing can range from mild to extreme with just redness and irritated skin, to bacterial or yeast infection, so it's important to keep a check on it from the very beginning!

The American Academy of Dermatology recommends using petroleum jelly. Cover the irritated skin and any blisters with a small amount of petroleum jelly. This helps to protect the area, and may help it heal faster. Petroleum jelly can also be used to help prevent chafing from happening in the first place.

Chafing cream to the rescue

Hydrocortisone and zinc oxide are great ointment ingredients to fight the chafe. Hydrocortisone is a mild steroid that soothes mild rashes and relieves itching and pain.

Help relieve itch associated with inflammation, eczema, psoriasis, rashes due to insect bites, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and minor skin irritations like rough, dry, red, chafed, and chapped skin with Cortizone-10® Maximum Strength 1% Hydrocortisone Anti-Itch Creme For Sensitive Skin.

Avoid cleaning chafed skin with hydrogen peroxide or iodine, which can delay the healing process, and use mild soap or water instead.

Aquaphor® Healing Balm Stick is a multi-purpose skin care product. This skin protectant provides immediate relief and protects to help heal chapped, chafed or very dry skin. Aquaphor Healing Balm Stick also provides soothing care for chafing; dry, irritated skin; friction and windburn; and cracked heels and feet.

Is Desitin good for chafing? ›

Desitin Daily Defense

"While more often thought of for diaper rash, this zinc-based cream can also help to prevent chafing by serving as a barrier cream," Garshick told us.

Vaseline Petroleum Jelly

“Those who regularly experience chafing can apply Vaseline to create a protective film over sensitive areas,” says Dr. Palm.

Though Aquaphor is mostly used for cracked skin, chapped lips and even tattoo care, it also makes for an excellent thigh chafing preventative. It's incredibly nourishing for sensitive skin and it's fragrance-free.

Initially, chafing will make skin pink and feel hot or sting; as the chafing heals, it may begin to look like flaky, red spots. In severe cases, where chafing is prolonged, the rash may advance, and symptoms may expand to swelling, blistering, bleeding, or crusting of the affected area.

Although it is hard to avoid, vapour rub can help cyclists with the pain of chafing. Vapour rub's soft wax can act as a soothing moisturiser leaving your skin feeling fresh, instead of tired and hurt.

Cornstarch: Cornstarch-based products help absorb moisture, making them ideal for anti-chafing products, according to Chiu.

Petroleum jelly is especially useful in thigh chafing. This will help your skin glide while preventing the painful chafing rash that comes with the constant friction of skin and against the skin.

Traditionally, talcum powder has been recommended to prevent chafing because it reduces moisture and prevents friction. For consumers that prefer a powder-based option, cornstarch makes a good substitute for talc and there are plenty of cornstarch-based options to choose from.

Wrap It Up

People who are overweight or who have big thighs, which makes chafing more likely, may find relief by wrapping elastic bandages around the portions of their legs that rub, says Barringer.

What is the best recovery for chafing? ›

Topical corticosteroid creams can help soothe chafed skin, as can several home remedies, like aloe vera, coconut oil, shea butter, cornstarch, zinc oxide, and petroleum jelly. If your chafed skin doesn't improve with home remedies or over-the-counter creams, be sure to follow up with your doctor.

Lubricate Your Skin – A bit of lubrication will help your thighs glide past each other, rather than pulling or rubbing the skin. Apply Vaseline® All-Over Body Balm Jelly Stick to the insides of the thighs before exercising or walking to effectively help protect against chafing.

To heal chafing at home, first, clean the affected area completely with mild soap and water. After you've cleaned and dried the infected area, apply an aloe vera gel. Aloe vera may help relieve any pain and prevent further infection.

Skin infections caused by viruses usually result in red welts or blisters that can be itchy and/or painful. Meanwhile, fungal infections usually present with a red, scaly and itchy rash with occasional pustules.

A fungal rash is often red and itches or burns. You may have red, swollen bumps like pimples or scaly, flaky patches.

Having a somewhat symmetrical red or reddish-brown rash with small bumps in an area where your skin rubs against itself. Having itching, stinging and/or burning in the affected area. Feeling uncomfortable or experiencing pain in the affected area.

Superficial candidal skin infections appear as a red flat rash with sharp, scalloped edges. Smaller patches of similar-appearing rash, known as "satellite lesions" or "satellite pustules," are usually nearby. These rashes may be hot, itchy, or painful. Intertrigo appears as softened red skin in body fold areas.

A spreading, red, crusted skin rash (generally starting in the folds of the skin) which may include satellite pustules (little bumps that look like pimples) and overlaying white plaques (hardened areas of skin).

A yeast infection on your face may appear as a red rash. The rash may have dry, scaly patches. The patches may crust over and ooze pus. The rash may look like acne on your face, with pimples or small bumps appearing around it.

Is aquaphor or Neosporin better for chafing? ›

Aquaphor. Both derms agree: This is your best bet for wound care treatment. According to Jaliman, who's been using it on patients for 30 years and has yet to see a reaction, it's non-irritating, fragrance-free, soothing, anti-inflammatory (thanks to chamomile-derived bisabolol) and moisturizing (high glycerin content).

Oatmeal Bath

Add 1 to 2 cups of steel cut oatmeal to a bath of lukewarm water, allow the oats to soak for a few minutes before lying in the tub. Pat oatmeal into skin but refrain from scrubbing or rubbing to avoid further irritating the skin.

But it's unlikely that skin chafing will completely clear up overnight. So keep up the steps listed above, especially reapplying the ointment (petroleum jelly, aloe vera, or coconut/argan oil) to keep the skin hydrated. It's harder to stay still during the day, so carefully consider what you wear.

Chafed skin takes one to two days to heal, as long as it is treated immediately. If you leave chafed skin unattended or continue to participate in activities that exacerbate it, the chafed area can take longer to heal or become worse over time.

Lubricate Your Skin – A bit of lubrication will help your thighs glide past each other, rather than pulling or rubbing the skin. Apply Vaseline® Jelly to the insides of the thighs before exercising or walking to effectively help protect against chafing.

Topical corticosteroid creams can help soothe chafed skin, as can several home remedies, like aloe vera, coconut oil, shea butter, cornstarch, zinc oxide, and petroleum jelly. If your chafed skin doesn't improve with home remedies or over-the-counter creams, be sure to follow up with your doctor.

You can use non-talcum absorbent body powder or a sports powder to ensure extra protection. Use a lubricant on the spots that are prone to chafing before you put on the tights or compression shorts if you still have chafing problems. Wear shorts under looser shorts, pants, or a sports skirt if you prefer.

I use this Gold Bond friction stick every time I expect my legs to rub together with my outfit and it makes a huge difference in comfort throughout the day and avoiding the chaffing all together. As we head into the summer, I can't recommend this enough for everyone with thick thighs!

Applying a layer of Vaseline® Jelly will keep essential moisture in the skin. It also can act as a lubricant to reduce friction when you walk or run. Ultimately, it is probably a good idea to give your chafed skin time to heal.

Does chafing spread? ›

Chafing causes a burning or stinging rash to occur where the skin is rubbing against something. The rash will not spread to other areas.