HOUSTON – Will Rosniak said his heels have been intensely dry and cracked since he was a teenager.
“A couple of situations where, after jogging I remove my shoes and socks and actually the cracks started bleeding. It's an issue that just never went away,” Rosniak said.
He couldn't deal with it anymore when he made an appointment to see Dr. Sherry Ingraham from Advanced Dermatology in Katy.
She said a lot of people who walk around barefoot have this issue. Rough surfaces cause a buildup of the skin, which can be uncomfortable, and the soap you're using probably doesn't help.
“If we over soap our feet, if we over clean our feet, the skin barrier responds by thickening and it doesn't shed normally. So, the skin then gets even thicker,” Ingraham said.
Ingraham recommends using only mild, synthetic soaps that will specifically protect the skin.
“You’re looking for products that have ceramides, lipids, prebiotics like oatmeal and some skin care products combined with lipids can all help the skin barrier. Urea is a very interesting molecule. What urea does is it causes us to gently, chemically shed the dead skin cells that are building up on our skin but then it also causes the skin to hydrate itself,” Ingraham said.
She gave Rosniak a prescription for urea, lactic acid cream and over-the-counter Amlactin, and instructed him to alternate the products each night while wearing socks.
After treating with those creams to shed the roughness, then use thick creams or Vaseline to protect your new skin.
Not all severe cracked heels signal the need for a cream or prescription. Ingraham said you want to talk to a doctor to make sure it's not eczema, psoriasis or a fungal infection