Dirt between your toes can be a sign that you need to wash your feet or rethink your shoe choice. It can also lead to major health problems.
That debris between your toes even turned into a Beatles song.
But it was unlikely that John Lennon was thinking about foot hygiene when he wrote the lyrics for the second verse of “Come Together”:
He doesn’t use any shoe polish
He has football player fingers
He has a monkey finger
He drinks coke
He says, “I know him, you know me”
One thing I can tell you is that you have to be free
What that dirt on the toes?
This ‘sweat’ is not a medical term. There is no formal medical term to describe the dead skin cells, sweat, sock lint and dirt that combine in the small and often tight spaces between your toes. It can smell (feet) or be odorless. And its color can vary from white to grayish brown.
Poor foot hygiene will certainly make you more likely to develop ingrown toenails. That’s because sweaty debris builds up between your toes if you don’t pay attention to cleaning these areas in the shower or bathtub.
Dirty toes can also be more likely if your feet sweat a lot for other reasons. For example, sweaty feet can be a problem for children and teenagers, who have more active sweat glands. And some people have a serious medical condition called hyperhidrosis, where they sweat excessively.
How serious is this problem?
Generally, toe sweat is a minor health issue. You can take care of this with good foot hygiene. And if you develop tinea (a fungal infection), you can use a short-term antifungal treatment that you can buy at a pharmacy.
It’s quite a different perspective, however, for a person living with a chronic illness such as diabetes, someone who has vision problems (so can’t see toe dirt or its complications developing), or who may be unable to reach feet due to limited mobility.
Untreated diabetes increases a person’s risk of having reduced blood flow (peripheral artery disease) and reduced sensation in the feet (sensory neuropathy).
Scratchs:
- infection spreading to the foot and leg (cellulitis);
- bone infection (osteomyelitis);
- gangrene (dead tissue caused by lack of blood flow);
- amputation of a toe, part of the foot or leg.
Therefore, early identification of tinea in a vulnerable person is especially important to avoid complications.
Four ways to avoid problems
- Wash the spaces between your toes and dry them thoroughly after showering and after swimming. Gyms and swimming pools are common places to catch a fungal foot infection;
- If possible, avoid wearing shoes that do not allow sweat to evaporate (such as closed-toe shoes made of synthetic material and rubber boots). Walking barefoot, when there is no risk of injury, also allows sweat to evaporate;
- Treat sweaty feet using an antiperspirant containing aluminum chloride. More severe cases of hyperhidrosis can be treated with medication, such as Botox injections in the feet. Fungal infections (tinea) should be treated with over-the-counter antifungal creams such as terbinafine or clotrimazole. Resistant infections may require a course of prescription antifungal medication;
- Pay attention to signs that indicate an infection is spreading from the foot. These can be pain and swelling in the toes, or red streaks along the foot and leg. This requires an urgent visit to a podiatrist or doctor.
Source: CNN Brasil
