What causes cracked heels?
What causes cracked heels? Dry feet and cracked heels are a nightmare in the summer. It ruins your looks, becomes uncomfortable, can cause open wounds which can be painful, and get infected.
So what causes cracked heels
Pressure – hard skin is caused by pressure. This is why it only occurs on areas of your feet that contact the floor. The thicker this layer of hard skin gets, the more likely it is to crack.
Genetics – Genetics can play a big role in how much and how quickly the hard skin can form.
Age – The older you get the dryer your skin can get. With dry skin comes cracks.
Circulation – Circulation plays a big influence on how dry your skin can get and how quickly it can heal. The worse your circulation with more cracks you will get.
Medication – Some medications can affect circulation, immune system, how dry your skin gets, how thin your skin is, and more. Some medications therefore will have an impact on the amount your heels will crack.
Footwear – Having dry feet will cause the skin to crack. open shoes will cause your skin to dry out more, and therefore increase the chance of cracks. Sticking in enclosed shoes will help prevent them from drying out and therefore stop as many cracks.
Medical history – Different medical conditions cause reduced circulation or dry skin. Such as hypothyroid, high blood pressure, and more.
Treatments
Wear enclosed shoes when you can – We all know that this won’t happen all of the time. But the more you can wear enclosed shoes and socks the less your feet will dry out, it helps redistribute pressure and therefore reduced hard skin and cracks.
Have orthotics – The more you can redistribute pressure from areas of high pressure, the less callous and hard skin will form. Orthotics do this by making contact with the whole of your foot.
Apply moisturizer – This has to be a foot moisturizer, and should contain at least 30% urea, and have oil in it. The urea help stop the skin from forming callous as quickly and puts moisture back into the skin. The oil forms a barrier to help prevent moisture loss.
Exercise – Keeping your circulation going, which helps keep your skin healthy and reduces the risk of infection.
Podiatry treatment – Have the callous and hard skin removed before it splits.