Peeling Skin

Peeling Skin on Feet and Toes, Causes, Symptoms, on Bottom, Treatment and Remedy

January 25, 2018

It could be argued that for many people, legs are used more than hands. Feet are very important when it comes to walking, standing and even sitting as they support you on the floor thereby offering some stability. Moreover, our skin is exposed to different kinds of environment ranging from the sun, wind, cold, heat and many more, which may pose an irritation to the skin. With all that, it is not a new thing for you to fall victim to numerous conditions such as peeling skin on feet. Your feet can peel skin in most cases on the bottom and on the toes.

Peeling Skin on Feet – Overview

peeling skin on feet

There are many conditions that can cause feet peeling some being severe while others are just minor and normal shading cycle of the skin. From the peeling causes to treatments involved in getting rid of the peeling, we will cover all that you need to know when it comes to feet peeling.

Symptoms associated with peeling skin on feet

Peeling skin is one of the skin condition on the soles of feet and palms of hands that is associated with other symptoms. The symptoms may vary according to what is causing the skin peeling. Moreover, this may as well depend on the person suffering from the condition. Signs and symptoms for peeling skin may involve the following:

Cracking, scaling, and peeling thereafter
Reddening and formation of blisters
Softening and breaking of the skin in some cases
Itching and burning sensation

Peeling Skin on Feet Causes

There are many reasons as to why you may develop feet skin peeling. Most of the conditions that cause this problem are not life threatening, and some may go away with simple remedies or on their own. The peeling may be involved with some itchy or painful feeling, but the causes of the peeling won’t result into being rushed in an emergency room. Some of the causes of dry skin peeling from your feet may include the following:

Skin buildup

It is natural for your skin to shed off after some period of time to allow a new skin to develop. Normally, skin has its own way of renewing itself and it can be defined as skin renewal cycle. However, on the bottom of your feet, the skins can buildup, and become flaky and therefore need to be shredded. This condition is very common in the palms of your hands and soles of your feet. It may also happen to the rest of the skin and it is normally very hard for you to realize. Most of us may remove the skin while we bathe without our knowledge.

Dry skin

Environmental factors can pose some effect to our skin. In most cases, when the climate is drying with less humid, it is very common to see some people developing some skin peeling on their palms and soles of feet. Also, if you carry out a lot of activities during the day without drinking enough water, you may develop dry skin. It is very necessary to hydrate your body with or without sweaty activities. This will help to keep your body and the skin in general hydrated and this may prevent it from drying up. Furthermore, it very necessary to apply some moisturizer creams and lotions to prevent drying of the skin.

Fungal infections

Your peeling skin on feet could be caused by a fungal infection. This is very common especially in toe areas, but spread to the rest of feet bottom if the condition is left untreated. Fungal infection is more characterized by skin peeling associated with some itchiness between toes. One of the common fungal infections is athlete’s foot.

Athlete’s foot is also commonly referred to as Tinea Pedis. It may be associated with acute symptoms such as intense itchiness from the toes with peeling skin. There is a chronic form of this fungal infection that can occur with different symptoms. This may include scaling, flaking and peeling of the soles of feet which may be extended to heels and toes. Many people may confuse this with dry skin, may be because it is usually itchy.

Fever

A high fever that occurs with other numerous symptoms such as sweating and shivering can as well result in peeling skin on feet, as some sources have revealed. This is because the fever causes retention of sweat in the bottoms of your feet and palms of your hands, and in this areas skin is thicker than the rest of the body. After some time you may realize formation of whitish blisters that are not usually fluid-filled. These blisters may then later break down and peel off slowly.

Reactive arthritis

Also known as Reiter’s syndrome, reactive arthritis is a condition that may cause inflammation not only in the joints, but also on the skin, mouth, eyes and urinary tract. According to a research finding, this may be due to a reaction between immune system and bacterial infection. Some of the common symptoms associated by this condition may include tiny blisters occurring on the bottoms of feet and palms of the hands. The blisters may then start peeling after some time. Moreover, the blisters may lead to flaking and peeling skin, which may look similar to psoriasis symptoms.

Sunburn

If you are a person who likes exposing your body including your feet to the sun, this may result to peeling skin of feet due to sunburn. Just like the back of your arms, your feet can be burned and therefore form cracks and then begins to peel off. Scotching sun is not only going to cause you skin on the soles to peel but will cause rashes on the whole body. If you also like walking on hot beach sand bare footed you are likely to develop this condition.

Dermatitis

This is a general term for inflamed skin. Some conditions that affect skin such as eczema, rashes and dandruff can cause peeling skin on feet since it is not excluded from these conditions. On your feet, eczema is a skin condition that is associated with scaling of the skin. It may cause itching, dryness and peeling skin all over the body including the bottoms of feet.

Although this condition is very common in children, it can as well affect people in their adult-hood. There are numerous home remedies that can help deal with condition.

Allergies

The peeling of the skin on your soles of feet may just be due to allergic reaction. If you are a person with a very responsive skin, you can develop allergies even up to the soles of your feet in most cases from laundry detergents, food, socks material or something from the surrounding.

Strappy heels

This is very common among women during summer. Snug foot wears can cause serious frictions to the soles of your feet. From friction, you may start developing blisters, which may the cause scaling and peeling thereafter. Also, wearing shoes for too long especially while you’re feeling are involved in movements may result to formation of blisters on the soles of feet. Instead, try wearing something natural that will mold your feet, and if you feel some friction developing, change the shoes.

All the above causes are the common reasons why you may develop peeling skin on feet. Most of the conditions we have talked above at least you have ever experience one or two in your life. If you have not, continue taking good care of your feet so that you don’t fall a victim.

Peeling Skin on Bottom of Feet

Peeling skin on bottom of your foot should not be confused to be something serious. Although the condition may occur with some ugly scaling, and itchiness, just finding the reason behind your condition will help you decide on an immediate treatment that will help get rid of the peeling skin, at the comfort of your home. Peeling skin on one of your feet could just be due to any of the reasons we have discussed above.

If you are unable to find out why you suffering from this condition, let your doctor find the underlying cause for you and advice on the best treatment you can use.

Peeling Skin on Toes

peeling skin on toes

It is usual for skin between toes to peel, especially if you have been wearing tight shoes that cause the toes to rub together. Peeling skin in between your toes can be an indication of an underlying condition. Most of the conditions that cause toes to peel are athlete’s foot, shoe contact dermatitis, dyshidrotic eczema, trench foot, cellulitis and psoriasis.

Some of the conditions we have discussed above while others we have not. In most cases, conditions that cause peeling feet may extend their effect to the toes although some conditions just focus the toes such as cellulitis.

Cellulitis is a bacterial infection that occurs on the skin around the cuticles. It may extend its effect all around the areas of one or two toes. In some cases, it is caused by untreated athlete’s foot.
Trench foot on the other hand is a familiar condition that occurs on toes of feet with wrinkly like skin after a long feet soak. When the feet are wet for so long, this can cause a serious condition known as trench foot or immersion foot. This may happen if you wear wet socks for a long period of time. At the end the wrinkly skin formed may start peeling off from the toes.

Peeling Feet Remedies

Peeling the skin from your foot manually may pose some risks such as bleeding, formation of a wound and infection thereafter. Therefore, if you have bothered to peel the skin from your foot, it is better you practice an effective and safe management strategy. In most cases, the use of home remedies has been proven successful when dealing with peeling skin on the feet. Once you can identify the cause of your peeling feet, find the best way you can treat it while at home.

Most of the solutions that can help at home are quite simple and may require a little time and some ingredients. The home remedies may include the following:

Cold water

You may soak your feet in cold water or you may just use a towel to compress some cold water on your feet. Cold water usually may relieve some pain and itching by offering a cooling effect to your peeling feet. Also, if your feet are dry and scaling, the cold water will enable them to soften up so that the peeling will not be painful and hard. This works well for peeling that was caused by sunburn or dry skin.

Warm water

You may add some salt to the warm water if there were some infections involved in the peeling skin on feet. Warm water with salt will help to lift up the dead skin so that it easily gets off. It is important after soaking your feet you scrub them slowly with your own type of scrubber so that the whole skin that was supposed to come out is removed.

Aloe vera

This is a home remedy that can treat very many thing including peeling skin on your feet. Some portion of gel from its leaf can help to repair the damaged skin on your feet, and offer a relief in case you had sunburn that is causing pain. The gel may also act as a lubricant to the skin. You just have to take a fresh aloe vera leaf and refrigerate it for a few hours, before you squeeze off the gel on the affected areas.

Vegetable oil

This will help to retain moisture on the peeling skin on feet so that the process will not be associated with scaling and flaking. If scaling is involved, there will be formation of wound ad pain will develop. The vegetable oil allows the peeling to be gradual therefore preventing dry-skinned feet from getting worse. Just apply the oil directly on the affected area.

Tea tree oil

This is remedy that is well known for its anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. Therefore it will help to kill of the infection that is causing athlete’s foot which is the reason why you have peeling feet. Just soak a cotton ball in the tea tree oil, and then dub it on the infected areas. You may do this at least twice daily until you start seeing some improvement.

Oatmeal bath

This home remedy is used for various skin issues such as rashes, itchy skin and peeling skin. In case you are suffering from eczema, this will help a lot. The bath is made by mixing oats powder with some warm water and allowing the solution into cool a little bit before soaking your legs in it. It will help to facilitate faster healing.

Use of moisturizers

This is more of preventive measure than a treatment option. You have to always moisturize your feet and wipe some extra moisture from them to prevent formation of cracks and blisters. Apply moisturizing creams or lotions after washing your feet and parting them dry at least twice a day.

Keep hydrated

Dry skin usually affects people who usually don’t take enough water to keep the cell of the body including the skin moisturized. Therefore, it will be important to take at least eight glasses of pure water in a day to keep your body hydrated. This will help to keep dry skin a bay.

Treatment for peeling skin on Feet

skin peeling on feet picture

If your skin is peeling and doesn’t respond to any home treatment, you will have to visit a dermatologist for an examination to establish what could be the reason behind the stubborn condition. If the peeling is due to a fungal infection, anti-fungal creams, which can be acquired over the counter, can prove helpful to this condition. If you have diabetes, or poor circulation of blood, your doctor will help you on the best ways to manage your condition to avoid more severe symptoms.

Diagnosis for peeling feet

The doctor may scrape the skin and examine some of the skin under a micro-scope, or carry out some tests to establish the infection behind the peeling skin. Moreover he/she may try to find out if there are other opportunistic infections that may have taken advantage of the peeling skin on feet.

Treatment

In case of athlete’s foot, tropical antifungal medication may be used in most cases. For severe cases, your doctor may give some oral drugs to work together with the topical creams. During the treatment process, the feet must be kept clean and free from excess moisture as fungi like surviving in moisturized areas.

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