Health - Wellness
The One Body Part That People Aren't Washing Enough
By ZRINKA PETERS
When you take a shower, you're unlikely to forget to wash your hair or armpits, but if you think standing in running water for a while is enough to wash your feet, you'd be wrong. If you don't pick your feet up off the shower floor and give them a proper scrub, you can open yourself up to unpleasant side effects.
Practicing good foot hygiene is important to ward off infections and prevent foot odor. "Bacteria [like] to feed on waste products that come out of your sweat glands, and they produce odor as they build up," says Dr. Robert K. Lee, chief of podiatric foot and ankle surgery at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica.
Experts say it's essential to wash and dry your feet daily, especially between the toes, and inspect each foot for potential problems like bumps, blisters, bruises, sores, and cuts. Bacteria, fungi, and viruses can enter the body through cracked skin, leading to a staph infection, athlete's foot, or plantar warts.