Cracked Heels? We have a cream suggestion that just might help you!

So summer is almost over, how do your heels look?  Are they dry and cracked from all the sandal and flip flop wearing?  We see many patients a day that come into the office for all different types of foot and ankle problems. A very common issue that is mentioned by patients after treating their foot problem is, "Hey doc, what to you recommend for dry, cracked heels or dry skin?" For years I would direct them to their local neighborhood pharmacy with a prescription for 40% Urea cream.  But about two or three years ago I started to have many angry patients who would call the office upset that I would give them a prescription for something so expensive and that was not covered!!! That is right, insurance companies stopped covering this very effective and safe way to get rid of cracked heels and dry skin.  I gave up on this for a while, sending patients to get some junk at the pharmacy that just wasn't as effective.

Over the counter, in the last couple of years, many great new Urea 40% creams have become available without a prescription but are not available in stores.  My favorite, which is available on Amazon is Revitaderm 40. What I love about this product is that, out of all of the creams available on the market for dry cracked heels this one comes with a pleasant odor while still being extremely efficient at making your skin smooth and get rid of dry cracked heels. This product has Chamomile, Tea Tree Oil and Aloe Vera which gives is a great odor.  Many other products seem just oily and a little smelly.

Urea Cream 40 / RevitaDERM - 8oz

I now just direct my patients to Amazon.com to buy the cream. Many times they can get it the next day, with out having to go to the store and hunt around for something you can not find there!  If you go to your local neighborhood pharmacy, the closest they come to this product is 10% Urea creams.  I would say this may be O.K. for areas that you do not bear weight on, but would not be effective for the problem areas like dry cracked heels and thick skin under the ball of the foot.  The 40% Urea creams will be very effective over time to get your heels and problem areas smooth as a baby's bottom:)

If you have really thick skin on the bottom of your feet, a trick I tell my patients about is the following. Before bedtime, place the Reviatderm 40 on the affected foot and (I know this is going to sound really weird) gently, not tight, wrap Saran or cling wrap around the foot and place a clean sock over it and go to sleep, take wrap off in the morning and go about your business.  If you have really bad calluses or thick dry skin you could see a big change in as little as a week doing this daily.

The link below will take you to Amazon for purchasing the RevitaDerm 40 cream.  I can say that I have seen many people have great satisfaction with this product and that is why I am sharing it with you! This product is safe for diabetics as well. Calluses on a diabetic foot can lead to ulceration (open wound) if left to continue to build up.  I consider this product an ounce of well needed prevention on the diabetic foot!

 If you have a foot or ankle problem and would like to learn more, feel free to visit our website at http://centeranklefootcare.com/

 

Diabetic and don't have a foot doctor? Quickly three reasons why you need a foot doctor!!

If you are diabetic, you can not avoid the thought in the back of your brain of someone who had a limb amputated due to diabetes.  Everyone has a story of an uncle, aunt or grandparent who suffered with an amputation due to complication of diabetes.  Every 20 seconds someone loses a limb due to diabetes according to Armstrong, et al, Diabetes Care 2013.

Top 3 reasons why you need to see a foot doctor:

1. Peripheral Neuropathy

• when seeing a foot doctor at least quarterly your sensation will be assessed and evaluated.  The doctor can perform a simple in office test to make sure your protective threshold is still intact
• More than 90% of people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy are unaware they have it, according to Bongaerts, et al, Diabetes Care, 2013
• So if you do not know your sensation is not intact, you run a much higher risk of ulceration and/or limb loss

2. Ulceration

• According to a study in the Journal of American Medicine in 2005: up to 25% of those people with diagnosed with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer. More than half of those have the risk of becoming infected and 20% of the infections will go on to amputations according to Lavery et al Diabetes Care 2006.
• Seeing your podiatrist quarterly, they will inspect your feet, identify any pressure spots that could predispose you to an ulceration and offload these spots to prevent the calluses from forming that often develop wounds if not routinely debrided in the diabetic patient.

3. Amputation

• Again, every 20 seconds someone loses a limb due to complications of diabetes
• Diabetes contributes to approximately 80% of the 120,000 nontraumatic amputations performed yearly in the United states, according to Armstrong et al. Amer Fam Phys 1998
• Podiatric Medical care in people with a history of diabetic foot ulcer can reduce high level amputation between 35% and 80%, Gibson, et al. Int Wound Journal, 2013
• Insituting a structed diabetic foot program can yield a 75% reduction in amputation rates and a near four-fold reduction in inpatient mortality Weck, et al. Cardiovascular Diabetology, 2013

Learn more about diabetes and your feet at:http://centeranklefootcare.com/diabetic-feet.html