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New Study Finds That The Fungus Behind Jock Itch Is Becoming Resistant To Common Anti-fungal Treatments — Except One

Story by Dr. Alex Nether

Board-Certified Dermatologist

Updated: July 27, 2026

I need to be honest about something.


I’ve been a dermatologist in South Florida for over 15 years, and I’ve treated more cases of recurring jock itch than I could possibly remember.


And whether it was a guy sweating through a ten-hour shift, somebody sitting at a desk all day, or an athlete, I kept hearing some version of the same thing:


“It gets better for a while… then it comes right back.”


Or sometimes:


“I’ve tried all of that. It still won’t go away.”


I was taught to recommend the same basic routine.


Antifungal creams like Lotrimin, Clotrimazole, or Lamisil.


Body powder like Gold Bond to keep the area dry.


Diaper rash cream like Desitin when the skin got raw from rubbing.


Looser cotton underwear and keeping everything as clean and dry as possible.


What I had never really questioned was why so many guys could do all the usual things for jock itch and still be dealing with the same rash weeks or months later.


I didn’t start really digging into that until I developed it myself.


And a study from this year on antifungal resistance made me question something I had never really considered:


What if the problem wasn’t that guys were using these treatments wrong?

 

What if the fungus itself was starting to become immune to the treatments?

I Thought I Was Doing
Everything Right

Before finding why everything failed and what actually worked, I did exactly what I had always told my patients to do.

 

First, I tried Desitin.

 

That helped put a layer between the irritated skin so walking didn’t sting as much.

But the rash underneath was still there.

 

Then I added Gold Bond.

 

It made the area feel cool and dry at first. But once I started sweating through the day, the powder would soak up what it could, clump together, and eventually stop keeping me dry.

 

Finally, I tried an antifungal cream like Lotrimin.

 

For me, the itching calmed down a little and the rash started looking better.

 

But it never fully went away.

 

I kept using it, thinking another few days would finally clear it, and I was still dealing with the same rash.

 

After about a month, I was sick of it.

 

My wife and I had a trip to Italy coming up, and the thought of spending ten days walking around Rome and Sardinia with my groin burning every time my thighs rubbed together sounded miserable.

 

So for the next three weeks, I spent about an hour every night going through dermatology journals, case reports, and old research papers.

 

I wanted to understand why none of these “solutions” seemed to actually finish the job.

 

Not just for me, but for all of my patients who were still suffering.

Why The Standard
Solutions Fail

After spending days reading pretty much the same stuff I had already learned in medical school, I finally found something different.

It was a study published on January 11, 2026, called “Terbinafine Resistance Among Trichophyton Isolates in the United States.”

 

Researchers tested hundreds of samples of Trichophyton, which is the same family of fungus that causes jock itch, to see how well they still responded to antifungal drugs.

And what they found surprised me.

 

9 out of 10 samples were resistant to terbinafine, which is the main ingredient in the antifungal drugs I’ve been recommending for years.

 

That was when something finally clicked.

Anti-fungal solutions have been the same for decades.

 

Lotrimin has been around since the late 1960s. Lamisil and terbinafine have been used since the early 1990s.

 

These treatments worked when they were introduced.

 

But fungus doesn’t stay exactly the same for 30, 40, or 50 years.

 

It changes. It adapts.

 

And yet we’re still reaching for the same types of antifungal treatments decades later.

 

That made my own rash — and all the patients who kept coming back into my office — make a lot more sense.

 

We weren’t doing anything wrong.

 

The fungus adapted, and the way we were treating it hadn’t.

 

Powders could still help keep the area dry.

 

Barrier creams could still protect the raw skin from rubbing.

 

But until you actually kill the fungus, the rash can stay there or keep coming back.

 

So I started looking for recent research from 2026 on anti-fungal ingredients that were still working against the fungus we’re dealing with today.

 

That’s when I came across an article by Daniel Mercer, a former Army combat medic who had spent 11 years treating infantry soldiers in Kandahar.

 

Mercer had run into the same problem with stubborn jock itch in the field.

 

But instead of relying on the same anti-fungal ingredients that had been used for decades, he tested different ways to attack the fungus.

 

And that led him to a solution that finally gave me some hope.

What The
Old Anti-fungals
Were Missing

Mercer started with undecylenic acid, which weakens the fatty outer layer the fungus needs to stay strong and keep growing.

 

Then he added microencapsulated tea tree oil.

 

Microencapsulated just means the tea tree oil doesn’t all come out at once. It slowly releases after the cream goes onto the skin.

 

So while the undecylenic acid is weakening that outer layer, the tea tree oil keeps releasing and attacking the fungus as that protection breaks down.

 

So instead of depending on one of the same anti-fungal ingredients these newer strains were starting to resist, Mercer was hitting the fungus from two sides at the same time and killing all of it.

 

Then he added 15% zinc oxide and witch hazel, which help protect the raw skin from rubbing and calm the burning.

 

It basically does the same thing as Desitin, but without having to cover the groin in a thick, greasy paste.

 

Then he added silica and tapioca starch, which help absorb the sweat and keep the area dry.

 

It does the same thing as body powders like Gold Bond, but without dumping loose powder down your pants that clumps up in the crease and has to be reapplied throughout the day.

 

So instead of needing one product for the fungus, another for the rubbing, and another for the sweat, Mercer put all three into one formula.
 

And after testing different versions and seeing the results, he put the full formula into a cream and made it available to the public.

The Cream That Put It Together

At the bottom of Mercer’s article was a link to the cream he had made.

 

It was called Luma Labs Triple Defense Skin Fold Cream.

 

I clicked on it and saw the exact formula I had just been reading about.

 

I was still skeptical.

 

I had already spent a ton of money on creams promising some new “secret ingredient” that was finally supposed to get rid of the rash, and none of them had.

 

But this one came with a 90-day money-back guarantee.

 

My Italy trip was only a month away, and there was no way I was going to spend ten days walking around Rome constantly thinking about my groin and worrying about how bad it was going to feel after hours of walking.

 

So I figured if it didn’t work by the trip, I’d send it back.

 

I ordered a tube.

 

I want to tell you what happened over the next month because that month is why I’m writing this.

What Happened After
30 Days?

The first week, I honestly didn’t notice that much of a difference.

 

When I put it on, I felt this cool sensation, kind of like what I used to get from Gold Bond.

 

But when I looked, the rash was still red and irritated, so I didn’t think much of it.

 

By the second week, I noticed I wasn’t itching as much.

 

I’ll be honest, the itch was still there.

It just wasn’t nearly as intense.

 

I wasn’t sitting there scratching or adjusting my pants every twenty minutes anymore.

And when I looked, those bright red patches around my groin crease were starting to fade.

 

By the third week, I could actually see a difference.

 

The skin wasn’t as red or raw anymore, and those wet-looking patches had started drying up.

 

I was also getting through full days at work without going into the bathroom to dry myself off or dump more powder down my pants.

 

Then almost exactly a month after I started using it, my wife and I left for Italy.

 

That was the real test for me.

 

Our first full day in Rome, we walked for hours.

 

It was hot.

 

I was sweating.

 

My thighs were rubbing together with every step.

 

Basically everything that used to set it off.

But that night, when we got back to the hotel, I realized I hadn’t scratched once.

 

I hadn’t stopped to adjust my pants.

 

I hadn’t gone into a bathroom to dry myself off.

 

I had spent an entire hot day walking around Rome with my wife without thinking about my groin once.

 

And the part that surprised me most happened after we got home.

I kept waiting for the rash to come back because that’s what it had always done before.

 

One long day at work and I figured I’d be right back where I started.

 

But it’s been three months now.

 

I’m back to working long days, sweating like normal, and it still hasn’t come back.

Not once.

What My Patients
Have To Say

Since then, I’ve recommended it to a lot of my patients dealing with stubborn jock itch.

 

I’m not going to tell you it’s worked for every single person.

 

Everyone’s skin is different.

 

But I’m seeing more guys come back telling me they’re finally getting through work without scratching, reapplying powder, or waiting for the rash to come right back.

Before
After

Derrick Holloway, 42

“I’m in coveralls ten hours a day, climbing ladders and crawling under equipment. By lunch my groin used to be soaked and itching, so I kept Gold Bond in my locker and would put more on during my break. Now I put this on before work and most days I don’t think about my groin again until I’m home taking a shower. It’s been almost two months and the rash still hasn’t come back.”

Before
After

Carlos Benitez, 45

“I work next to a grill all night, so once I start sweating there’s really no avoiding it. I had Lotrimin, Lamisil, powders, all kinds of stuff sitting in my bathroom. It would clear up, I’d think it was finally gone, and then a week or two later it would come right back. I’ve been clear for a little over four months now, which is the longest I’ve gone in years.”

Before
After

Ethan Calloway, 22

“Mine always got bad after football practice. Then the next day I’d be sitting in class trying not to scratch because obviously everyone is right next to you. I’d keep pulling at my shorts and hoping nobody noticed. After a couple weeks, I realized I wasn’t really doing that anymore. Now I can go through school, practice, come home and shower without thinking about it all day.”

Why I Wouldn't Just Ignore It

If you’re anything like me, after dealing with this for long enough, you start thinking, “Maybe this is just something I’m going to have to live with.”

 

The one piece of advice I can give you is don’t accept that as normal.

 

Whether you try this or something completely different, keep trying until you find something that actually gets rid of it.

 

Because fungus doesn’t always stay in one little groin crease.

 

It can spread across your inner thighs, around your genitals, toward your butt, and it can get transferred through towels, underwear, and sheets.

 

I’ve even had a patient tell me his wife kept getting yeast infections while he was dealing with his rash.

 

I can’t say his rash definitely caused hers, but hearing that was enough for me.

 

This isn’t something I’d just accept and learn to live around.

What If This Doesn't
Work Either?

You’ve probably already spent hundreds of dollars trying different creams, powders, and whatever else somebody told you might finally get rid of this.

 

So I completely understand not wanting to spend money on one more thing that might end up sitting in your bathroom.

 

The only thing I’d say is they give you 90 days to try it for free.

 

That’s three full months to see what it actually does for you.

 

And if it doesn’t work, you can get your money back.

 

So you’re not really being asked to trust me or take my word for it.

 

You can just try it and see what happens.

That’s really all I wanted to share.

 

If you’re dealing with stubborn jock itch, I’d just take a look at it.

 

I hope it helps you as much as it helped me.

I put the website link down below👇

CHECK AVAILABILITY