Dry Feet Happy Child

11/30/2007

A nine year old boy came into the office today with a complaint that his feet were frequently itchy and uncomfortable. His mom stated that he often sweated excessively and she felt that this was the source of his problem.

On exam the child was found to have a mild reddish discoloration where he was itching his feet. There was no evidence of eczema. Eczema is a common skin condition where dry skin occurs and the surrounding areas become inflamed. This is a common condition in young children especially when the feet are involved.

In this case I believe the itchy feet are likely very sweaty feet. I made several recommendations to the child. Firstly, I suggested that he wear only cotton socks preferably white in color as these are easiest on sweaty feet. I also suggested that he rinse his feet with cool water and change his socks immediately upon returning home from school. As a further suggested I offered him two ways to guarantee drier feet. One suggestion is to put some corn starch powder, commonly available in any supermarket, into both socks when dressing in the morning.

An alternative for really sweaty feet is to use a chalky roll-on deodorant stick on the bottom of both feet. This is a neat little trick that I picked up from a ski instructor years ago. He told me to do this as a way to reduce foot sweating and cold feet in wintry weather. If the itchy areas are extremely red and inflamed, one might consider the use of a mild 1% hydrocortisone cream for a short period of time.

      

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