What You Can’t See Could Hurt You

Wouldn’t it be great if we could see the soles of our feet like we can the palms of our hands? It’s so easy to ignore what’s going on down there. Arguably, the bottom of our feet is the one part of our body we pay the least attention to. If they don’t hurt, we usually leave them be.

Besides just washing them, we should consider giving them more attention. Just because the bottom of your feet feel fine doesn’t mean something couldn’t be lurking down there. One of the more common often non-painful things that occur mostly on the bottom of the feet are Warts. A wart can have a dark appearance or look similar to a callus. One wart can multiply into many in a matter of days. The sooner a wart is treated the better the chance of it not spreading or causing pain.

Another common thing we find on the bottom of the foot is a foreign object. Some things that get into the foot hurt but not all. We’ve taken out glass, wood chips, toothpicks, and hair just to name a few. Most people don’t recall stepping on anything. Foreign objects can get into our shoes easily and penetrate through the socks. The risk of having a foreign object in your foot and not knowing it exists is an infection.

You can give yourself the best chance of avoiding anything serious happening to the bottom of your feet by inspecting them frequently. If you don’t have the flexibility to see them, use a mirror. This is especially an important message for people who have Diabetes. Not only can Diabetes cause the feet to become numb, but infections happen faster and more aggressively in this population.

Take 10 seconds every day to protect yourself by looking at the bottom of your feet. If you see something unusual, let us take a look to make sure it isn’t anything too concerning. A new dark spot in the skin should especially be attended to immediately. Although skin cancer on the bottom of the foot is rare, it can happen.