Foot Hygiene

There are many things that are important for the proper care of your feet. Hygiene is one of the things that is most important. This includes proper cleaning of your feet. Each time that you bathe, it is important to scrub your feet and not to forget in between your toes. Once you finish your shower though, it is important for you to dry off really well, including in between your toes. By doing this, you are preventing bacteria from growing in between your toes.

Another important factor is applying lotion to keep your feet moisturized and prevent your skin from drying out. By applying lotion, you will keep your skin from flaking and you will also prevent fissuring in your skin. Moisturizing the skin on your heels especially will prevent cracking on your heels during flip flop season. You cannot put the lotion between your toes because it can cause bacteria to grow.

Another form of hygiene includes preventing fungus on your toenails. This occurs by examining your toenails for any yellow or black discoloration. If you notice this, there are some tricks that may help prevent your toenails from growing a lot of fungus. These include leaving toenail polish off of them for a couple of weeks so that they can get air. You can also grab some over the counter fungus treatment at any local pharmacy. If it continues though, please visit your podiatrist early so that you can get rid of the fungus before it gets worse. It is a very tricky condition to treat and needs to be attacked aggressively.

Another important thing is to change your socks daily. This will help to prevent bacteria from growing in your socks and causing you to grow bacteria. Socks that are wet from sweating cause the perfect environment for fungus to grow and give you athletes foot.

Each of these hygiene treatments can help you to keep your feet healthy and taken care of. If you find that you have itching, burning feet or yellow or black toenails, or dry skin, please come and see your podiatrist so that they can help with the treatment. If you live in the Dracut or Chelmsford, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and treat your foot conditions. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835.