Remember how we talked last month about doing daily foot checks? Have you been doing them? Somehow, I am willing to bet that you haven’t been checking your feet. Shame on you. Get that hand mirror out and take a good look.
While you are there, how do your feet look? I took a look at mine and they look terrible! To be honest they aren’t feeling that great either. I know that usually in the fall our skin dries out and we need to start moisturizing them but obviously my feet are ahead of the curve this summer. They are so dry. I also seem to have developed calluses on the bottom of my feet. While they don’t exactly hurt, I can feel them.
The thing about calluses and other skin issues on the bottom of your feet is that you really can’t be sure what they are. Yes, I think I have calluses but it could be warts or plugged sweat glands, or fat cell diminishment. Going to see your friendly local podiatrist is the only way to really know which of the skin issues could be affecting your foot.
How could I have gotten any of these foot issues? Well, it depends on the issue. Corns or calluses are your skin’s way of dealing with irritation or pressure. You know I am going to say it – if your shoes don’t fit right then the shoe can rub up against your skin. It is pretty cool that your skin can take this irritation and then know to collect dead skin in the form of a callus or corn to protect itself. Corns and calluses are alike but they form in different parts of the foot. Corns are generally found on the toe joints on top of or between the toes. Corns will have a “seed” or a center while calluses will be a thickening of the skin in an area that is under pressure. Those pressure points are usually on your heel and on the ball of your foot.
Warts are the result of viral infection. There has to be a breakdown of the skin for the virus to be able to get into your skin. This could include a cut, very dry skin that has cracked, or even the skin that has been sitting in really sweaty shoes and the skin had degraded a bit because of the moisture.
Your feet have over 250,000 sweat glands that perspire about a ½ cup a day of sweat. From time to time, the sweat glands on the bottom of your foot can be blocked by and build up a seed-like hyperkeratotic lesion.
Have I told you may new least favorite phrase? Well, it will share it with you because fat cell diminishment is another reason why you could feel like you are walking on pebbles. “AS WE GET OLDER” the fat cells on the bottom of our feet get stretched and thinned. It is sad but true. The thinning of that layer of fat cells will make it easy for us to feel more of the pressure of daily life.
If you have that feeling like you are walking on pebbles or you have discomfort when you walk, please take the time to go see your friendly local podiatrist to see what is really going on with your feet. It would be much better to treat the right problem rather than self-diagnosing and treating the wrong problem.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have diabetes and you see anything on the bottom of your foot, please do not self-treat the issue. Your feet are very vulnerable and you should be under the care of a podiatrist.
Your Pal,
The Foot Blogger Chick
