Have you ever been careless with your pedicure? Or maybe you just didn’t know any better! Even small mistakes can have unpleasant consequences. This is precisely why we have professionals who look after our feet.
Whether cosmetic foot care or medical foot care, the right choice of professional depends on the existing problem with your feet. Is it a simple removal of excess callus or the treatment of ingrown toenails? Do you want to have your toenails painted or is the reason for this the care of heavily stressed skin? The details make the difference as to which professional you should go to.
But to prevent problems from occurring in the first place, we spoke to a podiatrist. Eskild Sörensen, podiatrist from Bad Pyrmont, gives us the most important tips on the most common foot care mistakes. There are also tips on the right way to well-groomed feet. Here you can also go straight to our questions:
Is there anything you can do wrong when caring for your feet?
And the answer came directly and without hesitation: Yes, and plenty of it. This also includes these 5 facts and care mistakes in foot care that we can easily avoid in future:
- Doing nothing is pretty much the worst thing you can do. Because if you don’t even trim your nails regularly, you run the risk of ingrown nails. Anyone who has ever had ingrown nails knows how unpleasant and painful this can be.
- Shortening the nails is good. But shortening too much is not good either. Because if you shorten nails too much at the corners, for example, you also run the risk of ingrown nails. Too long is also not recommended. It is well known that many mistakes can be made here, which a professional will look out for.
- Ignore problems, according to the motto, it will come and go by itself. Here too, please always consult a professional and tackle the problem.
- Using the wrong skincare products is also not a good option. For example, oil should not be used on dry skin to moisturize or promote regeneration. Instead, a gel or mousse with the right ingredients is recommended.
- Not going to a podiatrist for advice and to see how you can do it better is also not a good tip.
We naturally had more questions for the expert and here are the answers and important tips for your own foot care at home:
What exactly have you seen in your day-to-day work?
Eskild Sörensen: I don’t want to say everything, but a lot. From patients whose feet are actually completely healthy and well cared for to necrosis. These patients can only be sent to the doctor because of medical necessity.
What is definitely part of foot care at home?
Let’s assume healthy feet. Then a nice lukewarm footbath with a pleasant scrub should be just as much a part of the routine as trimming your nails properly. These should be both shortened and trimmed.
Then apply a good skin care product and give the skin time to absorb the care. Regular care is just as important to support the skin, strengthen the skin barrier and promote skin renewal. This should be selected according to the skin’s condition, i.e. depending on its need for moisture and lipids.
Is there anything you always give your customers?
The right advice and products to optimally achieve the therapy goal.
Summertime is pedicure time. Can you confirm this?
Eskild Sörensen: Many people come at the end of spring and want to have their feet prepared for the summer. For many of them, this is quite possible. Unfortunately, we can’t always get out after one or two sessions what has been neglected the rest of the year.
But we can usually help. Sometimes it just takes a little time and patience to get your feet ready for spring .
Is there such a thing as the right preparation for good foot care?
Eskild Sörensen: Don’t stop grooming. Once you’ve started, you should keep at it and not make any exceptions, even when you’re on vacation or traveling. If you look after your feet regularly, you will simply enjoy beautiful feet for longer.
Soft and supple, that is probably the common goal for the skin on your feet. If you have a pedicure appointment, it is advisable to remove any polish and wash your feet beforehand. But please refrain from applying cream to your feet.
When it comes to cuticles, less is more – is that true and why?
Eskild Sörensen: Cuticles have the task of protecting the nail organ. Some people have a little more cuticle, others less. It has become a trend to remove them completely and I personally think that’s nonsense.
The cuticle protects us from pathogens and offers active protection. Destroying it for visual reasons is unwise and inadvisable. If you are still bothered by it, you can have the excess tissue carefully removed by a professional. However, due to the risk of injury, it is better not to do this yourself.
Another factor that should not be neglected is hygiene during foot care, which can sometimes be neglected at home.
Baking soda and lemon – there are many household remedies, but do they really belong on your feet?
Eskild Sörensen: Oh, where do I start. Yes, there are well-known and good home remedies. But why don’t you find them in doctors’ surgeries or pharmacies? Quite simply because they don’t belong there.
There are simply great skincare products that don’t need to be replaced by baking ingredients. With baking powder, baking soda or citric acid, we change the pH value of the skin and can of course achieve a lot. In both a positive and negative sense. This is because we don’t know the dose and therefore the result of self-prepared products.
So it’s more of a lottery and not good care for the skin.
You can read more tips from professionals and experts at ocean-pharma.de.
