Ignoring the dry skin on your feet can eventually lead to cracking and peeling that makes each step painful. Sometimes the dryness is due to lack of humidity in your environment or simple lack of attention, such as skipping the moisturizer after a hot shower. However, severely dry skin on your feet sometimes indicates a more serious problem, including a fungal infection or circulation issues.
Lack of TLC
The barrier-like, outer layer of your epidermis, the stratum corneum, contains natural oils that hold water in. This moisture helps your skin stay soft and supple. Dry skin develops when the stratum corneum, about the thickness of plastic wrap, loses its moisture-containing oil. Hot showers, harsh soaps, soaking your feet in water, low humidity in the air due to furnace or air conditioning systems and winter weather can strip the oil from your skin.
Taking warm rather than hot showers, using gentle soaps and applying a moisturizing cream to your feet, including the soles, after baths or showers can help otherwise healthy skin retain its moisture. For extra care during the winter, especially if you notice fine lines or cracks developing around your heels, a heavier emollient applied at bedtime, one designed specifically for dry skin on the feet, can add an additional layer of protection.
Fungal Infection
The most common fungal infection affecting feet is tinea pedis, or athlete's foot. This condition is contagious and spreads by contact with an infected individual, often by using a towel that hasn't been laundered or walking barefoot on a shower floor at the gym. Symptoms include excessively dry skin on the soles and sides of the feet, significant itching, cracking and peeling skin between your toes and on the bottom of the feet.
Tight shoes that squeeze your toes together can create warm, moist environments between your toes that encourage the fungi to thrive and multiply. Wearing wet socks or damp shoes for extended periods, especially in warm humid climates, can also cause tinea pedis to multiply.
Treatment includes keeping your feet dry, wearing appropriately fitting shoes and using over-the-counter medicated ointments or powders that contain clotrimazole, miconazole or other anti-fungals. For severe cases with blistering or secondary bacterial infection, your doctor may prescribe oral antibiotics or prescription strength ointments and creams.
Underlying Medical Conditions
Thyroid disorders can impair the production of natural oils, which can lead to rough, dry skin. Diabetes can damage the nerves in your feet, which prevents the skin from getting the message to keep your skin soft and moist, according to the National Diabetes Information Clearing House. When skin becomes dry and cracked, germs can enter and cause infection. Poor circulation, another possible complication of diabetes, also prevents adequate blood flow to your feet, which can lead to dry skin. Diabetics are more susceptible than the general population to fungal infections like tinea pedis.
Taking your medications as directed, moisturizing regularly and checking your feet daily for dry skin, cracking or rashes can help prevent foot problems caused by diabetes and other medical conditions.
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