Feet skin
When we talk about beauty care we often tend to forget one
aspect of our body - our feet. Most people though happen to
judge how you take care of yourself by looking at your feet.
In winter it could be disguised by the footwear (I think,
you would agree, shoes can tell you a lot about the person
who wears them), in summer you have but no choice to spend
more time and care on your feet.
It is unfair how we treat our feet skin sometimes. The feet
carry the weight of our entire body and often are one of the
most abused and least cared parts of our body. Overall, everyone
wants to have beautiful and healthy feet.
Foot care is an essential part of the hygiene regimen. You
might not believe, but skin on our feet is very delicate.
To have beautiful skin, you have to take care of the skin
on your feet, and on a regular basis.
Foot care routine is not so time consuming and quite simple
to follow.
Here, below are some tips on how to take care of
your feet skin, which you can find useful and easy enough
to practice on a weekly basis or more often.
• The first step is the preparation of the skin of your feet
for the treatment. One should remove hard skin to start with.
In order to remove dead foot skin, you may have to use a pumice
stone or apply a special cream on the appropriate areas. But
before doing it, you will have to soak your feet in a bowl
of slightly hot water to soften the tough dead skin. Then
you could scrub the dead skin much more easily. You could
use a foot file for rubbing the skin off, do it gently, and
then rinse off the flaky residue.
• After scrubbing soak your feet for about 10-15 minutes
in a bowl of warm water. It is always a good idea to add some
mineral salts, essential oils into the water. Palm sea salts
(or mineral slats) with a few drops of lavender essential
oils, for example, relieve the aches and reduce the swelling.
• When you finish the soaking procedure, dry your feet thoroughly,
especially between your toes. Trim the nails of your toes
by cutting straight across the tip and then shape the corners
with an emery board.
• Treat your feet with a rich foot skin cream by massaging
it gently. Put your hands on either side of your foot and
firmly pressing with your thumbs the upper part of the foot
start move you thumbs outwards.
• To remove any stiffness in the ankle, gently massage the
anklebone in a circular motion.
• Remove extra cream left from your nails.
If you wish to apply nail vanish:
• Place cotton wool tufts in between you toes in order to
keep them apart
• Firstly, apply a base coat of nail polish and then a second
coat if required. When one applies nail polish, one should
begin from the middle of the nail with one quick stroke and
then continue applying the polish working outwards.
• You better give it half an hour before putting your shoes
on.
Feet skin problems
Dry feet.
If the body cannot perspire properly in order to control
the heat flow, a person may become a victim of dry skin, the
condition, which is known as hypohidrosis. Dry skin can lead
to other skin related complains, such as fissures- cracks
in the skin. It could be quite painful.
Dry, cracked feet, known as xerosis, is a condition that
takes place mostly on the bottom and outside edges of the
heels of the feet. Sometimes cracks can be rather deep, but
difficult to notice because of the dry skin building up around
them. Apart from inconvenience and pain, cracks could also
provide an entry for bacteria to cause infection. Some people
get affected by dry skin more often than the others, but almost
everyone experiences foot cracks on their heels and soles
at some point in their lives.
This condition occurs because body is unable to provide natural
oils and moisture to those affected areas, and skin doesn’t
have enough capacity to retain that precious moisture.
There could be a number of causes to this condition, such
as:
• Poor eating habits
• Insufficient water intake
• Inactive sweat glands
• Detergent/harsh chemicals based soaps
• Obesity
• Long periods of standing
• wearing open backed shoes and sandals for long period of
time
• Aging
If you neglect and don’t treat your cracks, they may deepen
to the extent that the dermis layer of the skin gets affected.
Your feet would become extremely sore, making walking and
even standing very painful. Deep cracks may bleed and become
infected, which could end up in more serious feet problems.
People with diabetics and impaired vascular sufficiency will
have to be treated be a doctor in these cases.
Verruca
A verruca is a small skin lesion (a wart) which is generally
found on the bottom surface of the feet. The color of it is
normally paler then the usual tone of the skin. The surface
of the verruca is covered with black dots (these dots are
small blood vessels that feed the verruca). Verrucas are usually
surrounding by hard skin.
People often complain that a verruca feels like a small stone
under the foot. They are usually not painful unless they have
direct force applied to them or squeezed from the sides. Verrucas
can spread to other parts of the foot and can even go over
to the hands.
Causes:
Verrucas can appear if excessive moisture or excessive dryness
of the skin leads to small cracks in the skin which allows
the virus to enter the skin. The most common places for catching
verrucas are the communal places such as swimming pools, showers
and changing areas, where the human papilloma virus can easily
get into the skin. If you happen to have a scratch, a crack,
or a thorn in your skin, the virus has an opportunity to enter
and attack the skin.
Sweaty feet
Perspiration of the body through the day is a normal bodily
function, which is very important for us in sense of regulating
the heat (body temperature). In some people, natural perspiration
is beyond what is necessary in the feet (hyperhidrosis), which
results in sweaty feet. For the people who suffer from sweaty
feet, it could be quite embarrassing. Sometimes patches of
skin may peel and make the condition worse and more painful.
At times sweaty feet condition is associated with Athletes
foot.
Athlete’s foot
Athlete’s foot is a fungus infection of the skin that mainly
appears in between the toes, but can occur anywhere on the
feet; it could spread to other parts of the foot, hands or
even the face. The skin on the affected parts may go red,
swollen and may contain sticky fluid. On some occasions a
scaly dry rush may occur on the sides and on the bottom of
the feet (this type of athlete’s foot is called “moccasin”
pattern). Also cracks can occur between the toes, sometimes
they come with soft white scale. The patients often suffer
from “burning”, “drying” sensation, including dry and itchy
lesions.
Causes:
• Bruising or cracks in the skin allow entry for the fungus
(although many people have fungus present on the skin, only
a certain part of individuals gets affected by the microscopic
organism).
• Excessive moisture on the feet, between the toes (fungi
thrive on moist, warm environment).
• People with excessively sweaty feet are more likely to
be exposed to fungi infections.
• It may spread between people in the communal areas (a common
port for entry is found within swimming pools, showers, bathrooms,
changing rooms, etc).
• Dirty foot wear (there is more chance for fungi to appear
in between your toes, if you do not change your socks regularly).
What can you do?
• You could use anti-fungi powders in your sock and shoes
to prevent the build up of the fungi.
• Special creams and sprays for athlete’s foot can also be
used.
• Wearing cotton socks to absorb moisture helps.
• After having a bath or a shower, dry your feet properly,
paying special attention to the area between the toes.
• If you feet tend to sweat excessively, treat this condition.
• Change socks daily.
• Diabetic patience should seek immediate professional advice
and should not try to treat this condition themselves.
Feet blisters
Blisters appear when feet get sweaty and hot, making socks,
stockings stick to the feet.
The sock and foot rub against each other and inside the shoe.
Liquid fills up a space between the layers of skin to protect
the area; this is the way the blister builds up.
Do not “pop” the blisters, leave them on their own. Most
of the time they reabsorb and heal on their own. If the blister
“pops”, watch out for redness or leaking yellow liquid or
for red lines near the blister; these symptoms require medical
attention.
Causes:
• Inappropriate footwear
• Result of heat, moisture and friction.
• Result of the fungal infection of the skin, allergic reactions
or burns.
• Excessive perspiration of the feet.
To prevent feet blisters:
• Wear appropriate footwear
• Let the feet “breathe”
• If the blister is a result of the fungal infection of the
skin, allergic reactions or burns, act accordingly to treat
the fungal infection, allergic reaction or burns.
• If your feet sweat excessively, treat this condition.
• Use specially formulated foot balms that help to prevent
blisters and friction when exercising or "breaking’’
in new shoes.
Readers who read this page were also interested in :
Body Supplements - Dry Skin - Depilatory Creams - Skin Care - Skin Cream
Skin Layers
|
