Smelly Feet (Bromhidrosis)
Bromhidrosis, the medical name for smelly feet, can occur even if you are not sweaty or exercising and it doesn’t just affect teenagers. The problem is actually caused by increased sweating and the excreted waste products of bacteria and fungus that live in your shoes.
These micro-organisms not only smell bad, causing frequent embarrassment, but can lead to athlete’s foot, onychomycosis(fungal toenails), itchy blisters and other rashes from fungus, and potentially serious infections in diabetics and other immunosuppressed people.
Each foot has over 250,000 sweat glands producing 300-400 mL of sweat per day, leading to a very warm, moist environment inside your shoes and a perfect place to harbour these bugs.
Symptoms
- Malodorous feet – some say like mouldy cheese
- Moist, wet feet
- Rashes
- Infection
Common Care Management
- Spraying deodorant on socks, shoes and feet (ineffective, simply masks the smell)
- Foot creams, powders and anti-fungal sprays
- Regular showers and frequent changing of footwear and socks
- Wearing open toed shoes in warmer weather
- Discarding smelly shoes
- Wearing different shoes every day
- Cleaning shoes in washing machine
- Methylated spirits
Understanding Foot Odour
To manage the condition effectively, you need to understand the real cause of foot odour. Because these pathogens such as bacteria and fungi proliferate in warm, dark, moist environments like sweaty shoes and socks, the only effective care management is to kill the bacteria.
Before now, it was virtually impossible these bugs that cause bromhidrosis. Ultraviolet light technology has been used to fight these germs in hospitals, nursing homes and other sensitive environments for years and now this technology is available for use in your own home.
You might need to deodorise and disinfect your shoes.
Fungal toenails, medically known as onychomycosis, are a real problem for many Australians, and is extremely difficult to manage. In our experience, the PinPointe FootLaser, a patented laser device that applies pulses of light at a specific frequency, has been extremely successful in eradicating fungal toenails for our patients. However, even though many patients have had the fungus eradicated forever, some relapse, most likely due to reinfection from their infected shoes. The dark, warm and humid environment inside your shoes is a perfect breeding ground for fungus and bacteria are like, that not only make your feet smell bad, but also cause a relapse of onychomycosis, athlete’s foot, and other fungal and bacterial infections.
The same ultraviolet light technology used to fight these bugs in hospitals can now be applied directly to your shoes to kill the germs right where they live deep inside your footwear. You wouldn’t wear your clothes and socks for many days without washing them, so why not deodorise and disinfect your shoes. Chemical sprays and powders do little more than mask the odour, so don’t waste your time and money on managing just the feet without managing your shoes.