Dealing With Dry Toes

Dry toes doesn't sound particularly serious, and if the skin on the toes is dryer than normal, it may not be any great cause for concern. However, our feet and toes take a beating several hours a day, and every day of the week, and any abnormal condition associated with feet or toes can easily become magnified and a real problem.

In the case of dry toes, or toes with drier than normal skin, the condition may eventually lead to itching between the toes, a hard place to scratch when you have shoes and socks on, or worse yet, the skin may begin to crack and even to bleed.

Dry toes can rapidly escalate into a larger problem if unattended, as if cracks and splits are allowed to develop, infection can result. The feet, especially feet wearing shoes, can be a wonderful placed for bacteria to thrive, especially if the feet become damp with either sweat or water, and shoes are not removed. Although the feet and toes may be wet, the skin is still essentially dry. Water alone is not always an effective moisturizer, in fact can contribute to the problem.

The first line of defense against dry toes is, ironically, dry feet, and we would probably add clean feet as well. If the dry toes are the result of a medical condition such as athlete's foot, eczema, or psoriasis, a topical medication needs to be applied, and the feet need to be kept clean and dry to allow the medication to do its work. The feet should be kept clean and dry as much as possible in any case, especially the area between the toes.

Baby Lotion Can Work Wonders - If the condition is simply one of dry skin on the toes, whether it has begun to crack or not, the best medicine is simply a good moisturizer. There are plenty of skin moisturizers on the market that will probably do a good job, but one of the very best, and one of the least expensive, is Johnson's and Johnson's baby lotion. You just know that if it's good for baby's tender skin, it certainly isn't going to do your feet any harm. Some who have gone along with the baby lotion approach have found that adding a few drops of spearmint oil to the lotion works even better, and also gives the feet a pleasant spearmint scent, something someone with a foot fetish would no doubt go wild over! But baby lotion does work.

Plenty Of White Cotton Socks - What you need along with the baby lotion is white cotton socks, and not just one pair but several. Initially, your feet are going to be a little on the messy or greasy side with all that lotion, but wearing white socks helps in that case, and it really isn't an unpleasant feeling. The socks can either be disposed of, or just purchase a bag of a dozen or so white crew socks, use a pair or two every day, and wash the dirty ones once a week. Admittedly, if you wear dark slacks or a suit coat, the white socks are going to mark you as someone lacking in sophistication or clothes sense, but at least you can take comfort in the knowledge your feet are getting better with each passing day.

Although it may appear that light is being made of a subject that can be quite a problem, the point is, sometimes the simplest of solutions can be the best, and baby lotion is one of the most effective and safest moisturizers one can find. If another medication is called for, by all means use it instead, but if it's just a matter of needing to moisturize dry toes, baby lotion should solve the problem.