How to look after your feet in quarantine!!!!

Hello everyone,

It’s been about 4 weeks (give or take) since we shut the clinic and started offering S.O.S appointments only. I know there will be lots of you out there with feet that need treatment and are probably wondering what to do until such time that you can come back and visit us!

Well….I have some great DIY hints, tips and tricks that will get your feet looking and feeling better during the lockdown!

Hard Skin

Many of us will have hard skin the builds up, particularly around the heels, the balls of the feet and around the cuticles. The best way to tackle this is to use an emery board of your choice, and file the skin when it’s dry. This bit is important! You will notice that podiatrists do not tend to soak the feet before treatment, and the reason for this is because the skin will absorb water and this will cause the skin to change texture and become more elastic. Under normal circumstances this is great, but not when you’re trying to file the skin.

1. Use the emery board to file the heels and any other areas that are causing you trouble.
2. Then soak the feet and using a mixture of ordinary table salt/sugar and a touch of olive oil, scrub the skin. You can use your hand or if it’s too rough, a cotton pad or flannel to help get rid of this dead skin.
3. Rinse the feet and if you want you can use some more olive oil and rub this into your skin (you skin will be slippery, do not walk around barefoot)
4. if you choose not to use olive oil again, then you can use our homemade Sole Food cream; slap some of this on and wrap your feet in cling film. (I usually say avoid in between the toes, if it cant be helped, then just be sure to use some tissue to wipe away any excess cream at the end) Now sit and relax for a bit.

Sweaty feet

The warmer weather is going to get all the 250 000 sweat glans in your feet working. If you are prone to developing sweaty/smelly feet a really great tip is to keep a bottle of spray deodorant close by. I usually suggest that you spray your shoes and feet and this can be done throughout the day. The concept behind anti-perspirant is that it reduces about 90% of odour causing bacteria under your arm, so why not your feet? Of course, you will need to avoid spraying directly or close to any cuts or blisters, but you should find that this trick does wonders for your feet.

Broken/Peeling nail

How annoying is it when you’ve got a nail that splits and catch in your socks or tights or even on the bed sheet!!! You want to cut or file it, but it’s too low down. What the what do you do……..grab a Teabag! No, not for a cuppa to settle your nerves or help you forget, you are going to sacrifice this precious teabag and cut it up into thin shreds. Take some nail polish, ideally clear nail polish and pain it over the entire nail including the broken bit, then place a strip of the tea bag over the rip in the nail and paint the entire nail once again with clear nail polish. The tea bag will act as a sort of paper Mache to hold the nail in place until it can grow out. You may need to paint the teabag several times and at some point remove it all together with nail polish remover and start again with a fresh piece, but trust me…this is a really great fix!

If you need any help or have any tips to share yourself, then please do get in touch otherwise…happy quarantining.