Eczema can appear anywhere on your body. It can cause embarrassment when it's in a visible location such as your face or hands. Eczema can also appear on your feet, and while you don't have to worry about people seeing your rash and scaly skin, foot eczema can be painful since you have to put pressure on your feet to walk. Here is some information about this condition and eczema treatments that might help.
Symptoms Of Foot Eczema
You might have a single flareup of eczema on your feet, but your symptoms might be chronic and come and go. With the help of a dermatologist, you might be able to manage your condition so you can avoid serious flares. When you have the type of eczema that develops on your feet, you could have blisters along your toes. The soles of your feet are usually affected too.
The soles of your feet might have small blisters or very large and painful ones. When the blisters clear up, the skin on your feet might slough off and leave you with tender feet. Your skin could also crack and leave your feet vulnerable to fungal or bacterial infections.
Home Treatments For Foot Eczema
It's important to identify what makes your condition worse if possible. For instance, keeping your feet wet for too long might cause your condition to flare up. If that's the case, you'll need to be careful about sweaty feet. You might need to change your shoes and socks during the day so your feet stay as dry as possible.
Certain foods in your diet might also trigger your symptoms, so you might need to keep a food diary and cut out foods that seem to make your foot itching, blisters, and rashes worse. Since itching could be a serious problem, you may want to keep your feet covered or cut your nails as short as possible to prevent bleeding and skin damage from scratching.
Applying moisturizer might also help your symptoms. You may need to avoid long hot showers or baths, and when finished, dry your feet thoroughly before applying a moisturizer to soothe your skin. Home treatments might help, but when you have a rash that doesn't go away, intense itching, blisters, or painful feet, see a dermatologist for help.
Medical Eczema Treatments For Your Feet
Eczema treatments for feet are similar to treatments for eczema elsewhere on the body. However, when you have a bad flare, you might not be able to wear shoes or even walk. You might need to use crutches or another mobility device depending on whether one or both feet are affected.
Your dermatologist might prescribe medications such as anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, or anti-fungal medications. These might be taken orally or topically. Some topical creams fight itching while others help fight infections. You may find using a prescription cream and following lifestyle changes suggested by your dermatologist causes a noticeable improvement in your condition.
If your foot eczema is slow to respond to medications and doing things like keeping your feet dry, controlling stress, and changing your diet, your dermatologist might recommend light therapy. Light therapy involves exposing your skin to UV light, so it may not be a good choice if sunlight tends to make your condition worse.
You might take the treatments in your dermatologist's office or use a light machine at home. Light therapy may not cure your eczema, but it could make the symptoms easier to live with.
Contact a dermatologist to get eczema treatment for your condition.
In most photos you see in magazines and on Instagram, the models' skin has been airbrushed to look smooth and perfect. In real life, you will probably never get your skin to look that perfect. But there likely is room for improvement. Professional treatment by a dermatologist can help you get rid of stubborn blemishes, dry patches, clogged pores, and other imperfections that might make you feel self-conscious. Treatments have come a long way in recent years, and new therapies like laser treatment and dermabrasion are giving patients amazing results. Learn more as you dig into the articles offered on this website.