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Sweaty feet

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 05.07.2025
 
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Sweaty feet are more correctly called hyperhidrosis of the feet. All skin, literally from head to toe, contains glands that secrete moisture, thus performing the function of thermoregulation and removing toxins from the body. The skin contains about three million glands that excrete sweat, with about three hundred thousand in the feet. Excessive sweating can be purely physiological - when the body temperature rises, in hot weather, when the body tries to regulate the temperature balance. Also, sweaty feet are not considered pathological during intense physical activity or training. However, excessive sweating can also signal internal dysfunctions, in addition, hyperhidrosis is a real disaster that causes a lot of anxiety, since sweaty feet are accompanied by a specific odor. The smell of sweat is not considered comfortable for the sense of smell, and the feet emit a particularly unpleasant odor that is felt not only by the owner of sweaty feet, but also by everyone around. The smell is the result of a pathological union of bacteria on the skin and secreted sweat. In addition, high humidity creates favorable conditions for the development of fungal diseases, joining the already existing bacteria, microspores create a particularly specific smell, characteristic of mycosis.

The factors that provoke sweaty feet are varied, but most often relate to basic failure to observe personal hygiene rules.

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Sweaty feet, causes

  • Uncomfortable shoes, narrow, tight, made of poor quality material. Wearing fashionable but uncomfortable shoes is typical for many young people, both female and male. It is also wrong from the point of view of foot hygiene to wear closed shoes with polyurethane or rubber soles all day long. Any synthetic material blocks air access to the skin, this applies to shoes and socks, tights. In a closed "greenhouse" atmosphere, microorganisms - bacteria, microbes - multiply quickly, and it is the fruits of their vital activity that give sweat a specific smell.
  • Stress and emotional overstrain. Sweat glands, or rather their secretory function, are controlled by part of the nervous system – the vegetative system, as well as the spinal cord. In turn, the vegetative system is subordinate to the brain, especially the area of the brain that controls impressions and sensations. Any stress, fear, anxiety cause muscle tension, which provokes the release of certain hormones. And the body tries to remove the products of active hormonal activity with the help of sweat glands.
  • Violation, failure to observe basic rules of personal hygiene, poor, irregular foot care.
  • Endocrine dysfunctions, pathologies of internal organs, oncological process. Hyperhidrosis is in these cases a compensatory symptom, when the body independently tries to remove harmful substances, toxins through the sweat glands.
  • Fungus, dermatomycosis of the foot. This is a disease that is transmitted by contact, people who do not observe the rule of "privacy" of shoes and underwear become infected, that is, they allow themselves to wear other people's shoes or visit public places (swimming pools, baths, saunas) without shoes. Fungal diseases are treated for a long time and in a complex manner, since mycosis often spreads throughout the body, affecting the hands, groin and even the head.

Sweaty feet are neutralized primarily by maintaining regular personal hygiene. Careful foot care can not only eliminate unpleasant odor, but is also the best prevention of fungal diseases.

How to treat sweaty feet?

  • Wash your feet at least twice a day, regardless of the season; in summer, the number of water procedures can be increased.
  • Follow a diet that excludes fried, spicy, and smoked foods.
  • Be sure to wipe your feet dry, leaving no chance for moisture to accumulate, which is a comfortable zone for bacteria.
  • Regularly after water procedures, lubricate the feet, including the toes and areas between them, with special creams and ointments with antifungal action (Lamisil, Itraconazole Undecin, Mikoseptin). Even if fungal diseases are not diagnosed, but the sweating of the feet is increased, ointments should be applied for prevention purposes for at least a week.
  • Any cream, ointment, lotion must be applied to well-cleaned skin of the feet, otherwise the combination of medicinal ingredients with microbes can increase the specific smell of sweat.
  • A decoction of oak bark has a good effect, which is brewed at the rate of 50 grams of bark per liter of boiling water. After pouring boiling water over the bark, it must be infused for at least an hour, the resulting infusion is poured into a container with warm water and steamed in it feet twice a day for at least one week. Tannins (catechin), terpenes contained in oak bark have an antimicrobial, antiseptic effect.
  • A lasting result is given by lotions with tea tree essential oil, which contains antiseptic cineole, bactericidal substances - monoterpenes. The essential oil should be diluted in any vegetable oil in the proportion of 5 drops of tea tree oil per 50 milliliters of vegetable oil. This mixture can be used to lubricate the feet, areas of skin between the toes for two weeks, preferably 15 minutes after the procedure (let the oil soak in) put on clean cotton socks.
  • If folk remedies and herbal medicine do not bring lasting results, you can use pharmaceutical preparations - special antiperspirants (Dry Dry, Anticap).
  • As a complex treatment aimed at eliminating sweating of vegetative-vascular etiology, you can take a course of sedative drugs that normalize the state of the nervous system - Glycesed, Corvaltab, Corvalment, herbal teas.

What to do if sweaty feet do not respond to home treatments?

One of the new, gaining popularity, methods is a salon procedure - injections of botulinum toxin, which effectively interrupts the pathological process of excessive sweating. The result is quite stable and long-lasting, what is sweaty feet a person forgets for six months.

Sweaty feet are most often treated in a complex manner: procedures that affect the external, skin covering are necessary, but measures aimed at normalizing the functions of internal organs and systems are also important. To obtain a lasting result, it is advisable to contact a dermatologist or cosmetologist with this delicate problem, undergo an examination and begin treatment prescribed by professionals.

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