Athlete's foot, or tinea pedis (say: TIN-ee-uh PEH-dus), is a common skin infection that is caused by a fungus (say: FUN-guss). This fungus eats old skin cells. And plenty of them can be found on the feet!
Look for lotions that contain ingredients such as jojoba oil, shea butter, and urea. These ingredients are deeply moisturizing and can penetrate through hardened skin. You will also want to look for products that are free of fragrance and chemicals that can irritate the skin.
Cracked Skin On Big Toes
When applying a lotion to your feet, target areas such as the tops, sides, and bottoms of your feet paying close attention to your heels. Avoid applying moisturizer between your toes since it can promote fungal growth.
If you have cracked skin or sores on your feet that are not healing, consult with your podiatrist for assistance. It is important for diabetics to get any sores that do not heal evaluated immediately.
Wash your feet daily in warm water using a mild soap. Hot water can dry out your skin and harsh soaps can cause irritation. After washing, be sure to dry your feet completely especially between your toes.
Use a pumice stone on thickened skin of your feet to gently file away dead skin and allow for the moisturizer to penetrate more effectively. In addition to the pumice stone, you can also exfoliate your feet using a foot scrub. This can help with removing dead skin and can keep the feet and heels soft.
Ingrown nails are nails whose corners or sides dig painfully into the soft tissue of nail grooves, often leading to irritation, redness, and swelling. Usually, toenails grow straight out. Sometimes, however, one or both corners or sides curve and grow into the flesh. The big toe is the most common location for this condition, but it can also occur on other toes. Ingrown toenails may be caused by improperly trimmed nails, they run in your family, shoe pressure that crowds the toes, or repeated trauma to the feet from normal activities.
Warts are caused by a virus and can appear anywhere on the skin. Those that appear on the sole of the foot are called plantar warts. Your podiatrist can remove warts by a simple surgical procedure or laser treatment, performed under local anesthetic.
Corns and calluses are areas of thickened skin that develop to protect that area from irritation. They occur when something rubs against the foot repeatedly or causes excess pressure against part of the foot. If the thickening of skin occurs on the bottom of the foot, it's called a callus. If it occurs on the top of the foot (or toe), it's called a corn. Corns and calluses are not contagious but may become painful if they get too thick. In people with diabetes or decreased circulation, they can lead to more serious foot problems.
Skin cancers of the feet have several features in common. Most are painless, and often there is a history of recurrent cracking, bleeding, or ulceration. Frequently, individuals discover their skin cancer after unrelated ailments near the affected site.
Podiatrists are uniquely trained as lower extremity specialists to recognize and treat abnormal conditions on the skin of the lower legs and feet. Skin cancers affecting the feet may have a very different appearance from those arising on the rest of the body. For this reason, a podiatrist's knowledge and clinical training is of extreme importance for patients for the early detection of both benign and malignant skin tumors.
There are many potential causes of "cracked heels." Dry skin (xerosis) is common and can get worse if you wear open-back shoes, gain weight, or have increased friction from the back of shoes. Dry cracking skin can also be a subtle sign of more significant problems, such as diabetes or loss of nerve function (autonomic neuropathy). Heels should be kept well moisturized with a cream to help reduce the cracking. If an open sore is noted, make an appointment with a podiatrist.
Psoriasis is a skin condition characterized by dry, whitish patches on the skin. Normally, new skin cells rise to the surface of the skin once a month; the old surface skin cells die and fall off while the new cells are moving to the surface. In people who have psoriasis, the new cells move to the surface so rapidly that the dead cells build up on the surface. Some people have mild cases of psoriasis. Others have extensive cases that affect multiple parts of the body.
The rough surface of a pumice stone is the most common way to remove accumulated dead skin of calluse, corns, and heel fissure cracks. For people with these types of dry skin, simply rub the pumice stone across trouble areas, until the skin is resurfaced. Additionally, apply oils or other moisturizers to ease dryness more effectively.
Lock moisture inside of dry, damaged feet with a foot mask. Use petroleum jelly, paraffin wax, beeswax, or even lanolin for this. Just apply the substance of your choice to your feet, then gently massage it into cracks, peeling areas. and in-between toes. Then, cover your feet with thick, clean socks.
High blood sugar levels associated with diabetes cause greater fluid loss than normal, which leads to dry skin. Circulation problems and reduced nerve sensitivity are also common, so a painless skin condition may be an indication of something more serious. Untreated, this can result in foot ulcers and even amputation in extreme cases.
This autoimmune disorder can look like dry skin but it causes skin cells to multiply much faster than normal. Rather than shedding regularly as normal skin cells do, they build up on the skin, which creates rashes and lesions. These are itchy, sore and unsightly.
Skin (together with nails and hair) is particularly sensitive to imbalances of the thyroid hormone. Dry, scaly, flaky skin on the feet may indicate an under-active thyroid (hypothyroidism). This can lead to a host of issues, for example, gastrointestinal problems, fertility concerns or mental health issues.
We should all moisturise regularly, wear well-fitting, breathable footwear, use gentle washing products, cut our toenails carefully, and take regular exercise for good circulation. These simple steps will keep your feet fit and healthy and reduce or even eliminate dry skin.
You can also help reduce your risk of infection by cleaning any breaks in your skin with antiseptic and covering the area with an antiseptic dressing. The dressing should be changed every other day until the skin heals.
Nails help protect the ends of our fingers and toes, and allow fingers to perform activities such as scratching or picking up things. Nails are normally present on each finger and toe. They are made up of the nail plate (the hardest part of the nail and the part that can be seen) and tissue that lies underneath the nail plate.
Foot problems most often happen when there is nerve damage, also called neuropathy. This can cause tingling, pain (burning or stinging), or weakness in the foot. It can also cause loss of feeling in the foot, so you can injure it and not know it. Poor blood flow or changes in the shape of your feet or toes may also cause problems.
Although it can hurt, diabetic nerve damage can also lessen your ability to feel pain, heat, and cold. Loss of feeling often means you may not feel a foot injury. You could have a tack or stone in your shoe and walk on it all day without knowing. You could get a blister and not feel it. You might not notice a foot injury until the skin breaks down and becomes infected.
The feet are an important part of the human anatomy; each foot has 26 bones, 33 joints and is controlled by muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The skin on the sole of the foot is different to that on the rest of the body, with a particularly large number of sweat pores.
To cope with the weight that is continually placed on them, the soles of the feet have the thickest layers of skin on the human body. They are, however, very sensitive and act as sensors when walking or standing. Therefore, anything that interferes or affects the feet can have a profound impact on function and general wellbeing.
These pustules are sterile, which means they are not the result of infection. Antibiotics do not affect them. After time, the pustules dry up and resolve, leaving brown stains on the skin surface. The natural history of the disease is usually cyclical (occurring often or repeatedly), with the appearance of new crops of pustules followed by periods of low activity in which the pustules resolve. See Pustular psoriasis.
Acrodermatitis continua of Hallopeau is a very rare form of localised pustular psoriasis. This looks similar to palmoplantar pustular psoriasis, but is localised to the ends of the fingers and, less commonly still, the toes (acropustulosis). It usually starts after some trauma to the skin. It tends to be painful and frequently affects the nails. It may lead to loss of the nails. Bone changes can be seen in severe cases. It is difficult to treat and many therapies have been tried. Topical treatments are usually not very successful but occasionally systemic medications may help to clear the lesions and restore the nails.
Given they are part of the skin, it is perhaps not surprising that nails can be affected by a skin disease such as psoriasis. Nail psoriasis is very common, yet no one knows why some people get nail involvement and others do not. Nails grow from the nail plate, which is just under the cuticle. In people who develop psoriasis of the nails, it is involvement of the nail plate that causes pitting, ridging, thickening, lifting and discolouration of the nail due to abnormalities in the growth of tissue in the nail bed.
The nail is made of modified skin and, once it has grown, it can only be altered by filing or clipping. Treatments are usually directed at the nail bed or the nail folds that tuck around the edges. Treated inflammation in these tissues can result in better nail growth with fewer features of psoriasis, but treatment of nail psoriasis can be difficult. See Nail psoriasis 2ff7e9595c
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