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Nine months out of the year, you wouldn’t give your toes the time of day. But for that glorious span between Memorial and Labor Day, your digits are suddenly on display at every backyard barbecue and pool party. Sometimes it’s not a pretty sight. Good news: It’s fixable. Less good news: It can take a little work. “While some foot conditions respond well to over-the-counter treatments, others can be tricky,” says Cary Zinkin, DPM, a podiatric physician in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Here’s how to tackle six common foot-borne maladies help.
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Calluses and Corns
What it is: While both corns and calluses are hard, thickened areas of skin, calluses tend to develop in places where there is repeated friction, while corns grow in places where there is a pinpoint of pressure being applied to the skin. “Calluses are likely to occur on the soles of your feet, while corns occur in areas like your little toe that is pressing against your shoe all day,” says Dr. Zinkin.
How to treat: “Daily use of a gentle acidic debridement cream, like AmLactin ($17, walgreens.com) or Gehwol Callus cream ($17, drugstore.com) will help keep calluses and corns to a minimum,” says Johanna S. Youner, DPM, a podiatrist in New York City. “Wearing well-fitted shoes or cushioned pads like Spenco PolySorb insoles will also help decrease calluses on the bottom of the foot.” ($25, spenco.com) Corns may need to be treated by a medical professional. “Corns go deeper into the skin and they may need to be dug out with a scalpel,” says Dr. Zinkin. In other words, don’t try this at home, kids.
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Yellow Toenails
What it is: “Most cases of yellow toenails are caused by fungal infections,” says Dr. Youner. “To get rid of the fungus and also eliminate the source of contamination, preventative measures include using antifungal powders on both feet and in shoe gear.” Because fungus grows in dark, moist places, the inside of your shoes are a prime breeding ground. The good news: Sandal season can naturally help you reduce the time your toes spend in fungal hotbeds.
How to treat: Options include laser treatments, nail thinning, and oral medication, all of which you can receive via your foot doc. “Topical OTC meds work best on new, superficial fungus, but they don’t have a great success rate,” says Dr. Zinkin. “Oral medication works better because they attack the issue from the inside-out.”
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Sweaty Feet
What it is: While it’s totally normal and healthy for feet to sweat (the sweat glands in your feet produce half a pint of perspiration a day), excess moisture in the area can contribute to other foot issues like athlete’s foot. What’s more, it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria, leading to nasty odors.
How to treat: “Using more natural and breathable materials on the feet will help,” says Dr. Youner. Also, “wicking socks are helpful in absorbing excess sweat.” To help curb the dampness, use your daily antiperspirant spray or stick on the soles of your feet, and carry an extra pair of socks in your office bag so you can change midday if needed, says Dr. Zinkin. For truly severe cases of over-sweating, docs now use Botox injections, which have been shown to work remarkably well at ending the sweat cycle.
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Plantar Warts
What it is: All warts are viruses and easily transmitted via moist contact. Plantar refers to the soles of the feet, where the wart is found. “They are easily contracted and a difficult problem to eradicate once infected,” says Dr. Youner. Prevention, namely wearing flip-flops instead of walking barefoot in your gym locker room or at a public pool, is crucial.
How to treat: Most of the time, you are going to wind up at the podiatrist’s office to solve this one. But if you’d rather try the DIY route first, purchase a bottle of salicylic acid 17% ($10.49, walgreens.com) at your local drugstore and apply it before bed to the affected area using a cotton ball. Leave it overnight, then gently scrub the wart with a pumice stone in the morning to reduce its size. Over time, you may rid your foot of it completely (but unlikely).
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Dry Feet
What it is: Dry skin can be caused by anything from long, hot showers to prolonged periods in the sun to medical conditions such as diabetes. Because the feet contain sweat glands but do not produce oil, they are prone to the condition.
How to treat: If the skin around your heels is cracked and flaky, you need to first gently slough off the dead skin using a foot scrub. A good bet: Gilden Tree’s Exfoliating Foot Scrub ($17, gildentree.com). Because the skin around your heels stretches every time you take a step, it is easy to keep reopening the cracked area. Use a superthick salve or cream to coat the area. Try Kiehl’s Intensive Treatment and Moisturizer for Dry or Callused Areas ($26, kiehls.com), best if applied to damp skin after you shower in order to lock in the moisture.
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Hairy Toes
What it is: The last remnants of your primate ancestors’ furry exterior.
How to treat: Resist the urge to grab and pull. That will result in ingrown hairs that are as painful as they are unattractive. Your options include shaving (cheap, but those suckers will be back and thicker than ever in a few days), waxing (DIY or see your local salon; mildly painful but lasts about a month), electrolysis (permanent but expensive) or laser treatments (a significant, long-lasting reduction in hair), both of which need to be performed by a medical professional.
How to Get Rid of Ugly Toenails
“Hi, this is Dr. Silvester and I’m going to talk to you a little bit today about ugly toenails. It’s a very common problem that we get in our practice, it’s usually a more serious problem for our female patients, because they like to wear sandals in the summer. Most people make the mistake of assuming that all ugly toenails are related to a fungus. They immediately get over-the-counter fungal medications, they even go to their doctor and their doctor assumes it’s a fungus and they take oral medications or they have other home remedies that they use.
Most of the time, they find that those are relatively ineffective. The reason that I think most nail treatments are ineffective and difficult is first of all, the right diagnosis has to be established before you begin a treatment plan. I don’t remember the last time I saw a patient who came to see me who had seen someone else, who’d actually had a biopsy of the nail plate, to see if it was truly a fungus.
So you need to establish whether or not it’s a fungus or what kind of organism it is, in order – if it is an organism, to establish the correct treatment. Once that has been established, we use a lot of different treatment techniques for nail fungus, that includes oral medication, topical medication, mechanical removal of the nails, lasers can be very effective if applied correctly. The problem, if you read on the Internet about laser therapy, a lot of people say it doesn’t work. In fact, it does work, if you use the right laser and it’s at the right intensity.
Same thing with medication. The problem I see with most people when they use medication either topical or oral, is they don’t use it for a long enough period, so it doesn’t have enough time to work or they use it until they start to get some clearing and they think, “Oh, the disease is gone.” Then a few months later, it’s starting to come back.
So, ugly toenails can be successfully treated, but be aware that it’s going to be a long term treatment, it’s going to be something you’ll have to be diligent about, but with a motivated patient and a good diagnosis, you can usually get your nails in great shape within a few months and start feeling better about your feet when you’re walking around in sandals.
Thanks for listening!”