With cooler weather around the corner, your feet and nails could be at risk. Dry feet and yellow, brittle nails are common complaints at this time of year. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Want to prevent dry, cracked skin on your feet and enjoy strong, healthy nails all year long? Just follow these winter foot care tips from our Medford podiatrists.
Preventing Dry Feet with Proper Winter Foot Care ![bare feet near snow]()
As the weather cools off, many of our patients start taking long, hot showers or turning up the heat in their homes. Unfortunately, that can dry out your skin, increasing your risk for itching, flaking and cracking skin on your feet. In turn, you could experience bleeding and a greater risk for infection.
Luckily, a good skin care routine can help you prevent these complications. To begin with, you should be moisturizing your feet at least once a day. (But twice a day is better, especially if you’ve experienced dry feet in the past.) You should be selective with your product choices, looking for thicker moisturizers such as Vaseline or Foot Miracle by Straight Arrow. Apply the topical moisturizer all over your feet, paying careful attention to vulnerable spots like calluses or the skin around your feet. For most patients, this routine will be enough to prevent drying. However, in some cases, you may need to use a moisturizer that contains urea in order to fully protect your foot health.
Additionally, you’ll have to pay attention to what you put on your feet, and to how you set up your environment. First, let’s discuss your shoes. Try to choose pairs that are made from softer materials to avoid rubbing against skin that may be drier than normal. You should also avoid wearing shoes that fit too snugly, in order to prevent similar irritation.
In your home, make use of a humidifier to help preserve moisture in the air—and in the delicate skin on your feet. Avoid long hot baths and showers, too. And when you’re done bathing or showering, make sure to moisturize your feet afterward in order to restore moisture that may have been lost while you were in the water.
Focus on Nail Health with Winter Foot Care
Now that we’ve set you up to enjoy soft, supple skin all winter long, let’s talk about your nail health. Just as dry feet can be a seasonal concern, dry brittle nails may also be a problem during winter, especially if you spent the spring and summer upping your pedicure game.
But why would keeping your nails polished in the warmer months set you up for problems in the winter? Well, when your nail are frequently covered by thick polish, they just can’t breathe. And that can leave them dry and brittle. They could appear to be flaky or take on a yellow tint when not covered by polish.
Furthermore, the ingredients in your polish could cause direct damage to your nails. Many nail polishes that you can buy or use at a salon are full of formaldehyde, a chemical that dries out the toenail. Then, when you remove the polish, you will likely use a product containing acetone, further compounding your dry nail problem and increasing your risk for damage and fungal toenail infections.
So, how can you combat this problem? Well, here’s our top winter foot care tip: now that the weather is cooler, and you’re pulling winter boots out of your closet, the world will be seeing less of your toenails. As such, now is the perfect time to give your toenails a vacation from polish. Even a short break will help them heal, undoing damage sustained during previous pedicures. Now, if you do wish to get a seasonal pedicure, preparing for a special event or a beach vacation, we’ve got one more winter foot care tip for you to follow. Instead of using those damaging commercial nail products, let’s make better choices instead. Simply reach for one of the many available color choices in Dr.'s Remedy line of Enriched Polishes. These products are beautiful and better-for-you, thanks to an infusion of biotin, tea-tree oil, anti-fungal garlic bulb extract, lavender, wheat protein and antioxidant vitamins—ingredients that are meant to strengthen your nails to help you fight discoloration or drying.
Fighting Dry Feet and Nails in Southern Oregon
A strong winter foot care routine should help you prevent many foot and nail health concerns this season. However, if you already have concerns about dry feet or damaged toenails? We’re here to help. Just follow this link or call the office at 541-776-3338 to request an appointment with Dr. Devin Dimond, Dr. Evan Merrill or Dr. Chase Christensen. When we see you in the office, we’ll conduct a comprehensive exam to determine the cause of your current concerns, providing you with an appropriate treatment plan to restore your optimal foot and nail health.