Sweat feet: what to do?
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
When the legs sweat, the person is in the white crow position. He can not live normally, go to work, make love, make a career. At any moment, he may have excessive sweating of the legs, or hyperhidrosis, as doctors call this disease. What to do when the legs are singing and how to get rid of excessive sweating of the feet?
[1]
Sweat feet equal fungus
Ideally, the feet should not sweat much. This occurs when serious disturbances have occurred in the body. A strong overexcitement of the central nervous system, diseases of the kidneys, endocrine organs, hormonal disorders or an inflammatory process in the body - all this can lead to increased leg sweating.
And the most unpleasant thing is that a fungus settles on the feet, which intensifies the unpleasant smell and prevents a person from wearing normal shoes, the feet and the area between the fingers itches, hurts, and the skin is covered with cracks.
How to identify a fungus?
The stale smell of the feet, in spite of all the tricks of the owner or the hostess: constant washing, deodorants, changing socks and tights - can temporarily hide the manifestation of the fungus, which is also characterized by a putrid odor. And still it is worth guarding if:
- Bad foot odor increases despite washing and comfortable shoes.
- The skin around the toes and on the nails becomes red, inflamed
- Cracks, red spots appear between toes
- The skin between the toes and on the feet flakes, itches, hurts
This means that hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) has been joined by its constant ally - the fungus. It is necessary to immediately contact a dermatologist and begin treatment until the fungus has developed and has not turned into eczema, from which it will be much more difficult to get rid of.
What tools will help to cope with the fungus and sweating?
Very good foot bath with a drying effect. Your doctor may prescribe medications that will cause a drying effect. And we can give an example of the use of formalin or manganese, diluted in water. How to do it? First rinse your feet under running water, but not cold, but cool. This is both hardening and a good means of calming for tired skin of the feet. Wash your feet with soap or foam - it is more gentle than soap and belongs to the delicate skin of the feet.
How to make a foot bath?
Foot bath - an excellent drying agent for sweating and fungus. Spend 15 minutes on it, and soon your legs will be all right. So, manganese needs to be diluted in water so that the water turns pink. You can not throw a lot of manganese - just a couple of grains, otherwise you can burn the skin of the feet. Dip your feet in it, hold it for a quarter of an hour, wipe dry.
After this procedure, sprinkle your feet with powder. You can not take expensive - baby powder will cope with the task to dry the feet. And then, if it is a man, you can wear cotton or linen socks (they should be natural, moisture wicking) and comfortable leather shoes.
For women, it is advisable to use tights from natural materials (in the cold season) or not to use anything if the season is hot.
Instead of powder, you can take the cream from sweating feet - such creams are sold in pharmacies.
If you make formalin solution for a bath, take 1 teaspoon of formalin per 2 liters of water. It will be a good drying and antimicrobial agent.
Pasta teymurova
After the bath, it is also good to use Teymurov's paste from excessive sweating of the feet. This is not a very expensive and effective tool that will help in the fight against bacteria and excessive sweating of the legs - it was developed specifically for this. It can not be used only for acute inflammation of the skin of the foot, and for normal sweating - please!
This product also has a deodorant effect, so you don’t have to worry about the bad smell of feet.
Antiperspirant Deodorants
These tools can be used for hyperhidrosis, but only if there is no fungus on the feet. If the fungus has already appeared, it must first be cured. Antiperspirants will help to cope with excessive sweating, dry the skin of the feet and disinfect it.
But since antiperspirants tend to constrict skin pores (precisely because of this, a person does not sweat so much), they do not need to be used constantly. Use these products during the day, and at night you should not - the skin should rest, and the pores - work.
At night, before going to bed, just wash your feet with soap, dry them and use dried powder. And antiperspirant can be used in the morning when you go to work. It will protect you from bad opinions around you all day.
[6]
Sweat stop cream
There are specially designed creams for feet, which slow down the formation of sweat. These creams dry legs well, they contain bactericidal substances that fight bacteria. As a rule, these creams also contain talc, which absorbs moisture, saving a person from the increased moisture in the feet.
Creams with natural medicinal herbs are very good, for example, with an extract of oak bark and lemongrass - they do not give side effects when exposed to the skin of the feet and help to cope with excessive sweating.
Spray for feet with hyperhidrosis
Spray - a very convenient remedy for sweating feet. It is based on essential oils that do not give a bad smell to spread, protect against bacteria. Spray is very convenient to carry in your pocket, do not need to get your hands dirty when a person handles the skin of the feet with a spray, as is the case with creams. He pressed the button several times - and it's done, your feet are processed.
How to care for shoes?
How you do it, very much depends on the health of your feet. Even clean, washed and processed anti-sweating products will keep your feet clean for no more than five minutes if your shoes leave much to be desired.
Creams and foot sprays, which we wrote about above - this tool for shoes too. It should be treated with means that destroy bad odor - after careful removal of dirt from the sole, of course. One of the good means to remove the bad smell from shoes is a special spray treatment.
Properties of the best means for shoes
The best of them are not the ones with the effect of deodorant (they just drown out their unpleasant smell). The best sprays are those that absorb bad odors by adsorbing them. A good tool for processing shoes should not leave traces on it, should not have its own smell, should not spoil the shoes (its structure, color). Sprays for shoes of modern production remove odors from shoes and boots at the level of molecules, therefore, it is able to cope with even the strongest ones.
All these characteristics can be read on the label. There it must be stated that the spray does not cause allergic reactions, not toxic - otherwise it is simply not worth buying.
Cotton swabs for shoes
This is a self-made, but effective remedy to remove unpleasant smell of shoes. It is necessary to moisten a cotton swab with formalin (enough 25% solution), put it in shoes, and put shoes in a plastic bag, close and leave somewhere in a dark place for 3 days away from children and animals. Formalin removes all bacteria from the surface of the insoles, disinfects them.
But bad luck: after formalin remains an unpleasant smell. It can be removed with ammonia. They need to moisten cotton wool and leave in shoes for 2-3 hours. Everything! Your shoes are disinfected and pristine.
If the shoes are made of expensive leather, formalin can not be put into it, but put next to the shoes. But all the same, both the shoe and the tool itself - formalin - wrap in cellophane so as not to frighten the family.
No formalin - you can use vinegar. But not vinegar itself, but its acid concentration of 35%. The method of disinfection of shoes is the same as for formalin.
Herb Bags
A great daily remedy for keeping your shoes pleasantly smelling. It is good to put in pine needles, cedar shavings or cut cones, juniper. All of these are excellent antibacterial agents for reducing foot sweating.
It is possible, in addition to natural materials, to use small packages filled with zeolite. This material absorbs and absorbs unpleasant odors very well, which makes life easier for a person. You can not buy new bags every time, but reuse them. Only be sure to dry them in the sun after use during the day.
Moisture absorbing insoles
These insoles are sold in pharmacies or made to order. This is a great help for those people who suffer from excessive sweating of the feet. And for those who are forced to constantly wear closed shoes: employees of banks, military, builders, athletes.
These insoles are good because they can effectively absorb moisture, adsorb sweat secretions. Insoles designed to absorb moisture not only fulfill this noble role. Such insoles also help to eliminate bad odors, so the feet are always comfortable in them - even when they sweat a lot.
How should I treat sweating feet?
First of all, you can use alternative means that have tannins in the composition. They may be even more effective than medical drugs. And the fact that they are cheaper, clearer clear.
[7],
Oak Bark Recipe
You need to take 100 oak bark and pour it with one liter of water. Boil over low heat for half an hour, cool and steam your feet for 7 days in a row. Sweating significantly reduced.
[8]
Recipe with salt and soda
Both of these tools are bactericidal, salt is used even for disinfecting wounds (although this is very painful). You need to take 1 teaspoon of salt and soda, stir them in a glass of well warmed water and wash the feet with this solution. Then rinse the feet, wipe them dry. Feet will sweat much less, and the smell of unpleasant will be diminished.
Sage Recipe
This plant has amazing bactericidal and anti-inflammatory properties - with a sage gargle with colds and even with sore throats. You need to take one teaspoon of sage leaves and pour two cups of boiling water over it.
Let this infusion stand for at least 40 minutes, cool. Then the sage must be filtered, but not wash their feet, and take orally. This will help to establish many processes in the body, including inflammatory. It is necessary to take sage infusion of 2 tablespoons twice a day for two to three weeks.
Proper nutrition
In order for the legs not to sweat so much, you need to remove from the menu some products that provoke excessive sweating of the feet and other parts of the body, such as underarms. Their list includes theobramin and caffeine tonic substances found in cocoa, chocolate, coffee, tea.
Literally in a week or two of a reasonable diet, the legs will not sweat anymore. It is only important to remember that only one food does not remove the sweating of the feet. Need comprehensive treatment methods.
[9]
Physiotherapy
Electrophoresis can be used as physiotherapy. A session once in 7 days is enough - and the sweating of the legs will become much less pestering. To achieve a good effect, it is desirable to conduct 10 electrophoresis sessions.
An experienced doctor should conduct a session, because for each patient the temporary rate is strictly individual. If electrophoresis is overexposed, the person may experience pain, itching and burning feet. The skin will become irritated, and then it will have to be treated for a long time. Therefore, physiotherapy should be approached wisely.
Sympathectomy
This is a surgical method of treating excessive sweating of the feet if other methods do not help. The operation involves such actions by the surgeon. In the body there are special nerve bundles that are responsible for the amount of sweat secreted. If this nerve bundle is pinched or cut off, the sweat stops being released in such huge quantities. Here it is clamped with a special device - a clip.
The operation is good because it helps very many patients - up to 80%, and the effect of the operation is very long - up to three or four years.
The disadvantage of this surgical intervention is that it can cause various complications in the form of heart disruption, eyelid ptosis, backlash - increased sweating at the time when a person eats. Therefore, before deciding on such an operation, it is worthwhile to analyze all alternative methods of treatment only afterwards to make a decision.
Botulotoxin
Botox injections, also known as botulinum toxin, are designed to block the transmission of pain impulses. This method is also used to treat sweating, that is, hyperhidrosis. Treatment with botulinum toxin can have an effect for a long time - almost up to a year.
True, treatment with this drug is quite expensive - the course costs about two thousand dollars.
Whatever treatment method you choose when your feet are sweating, you should remember about personal hygiene and the fact that self-treatment can be detrimental to your feet. Therefore, be sure to contact your doctor so that he can help you correctly and competently cope with such a condition as sweating feet.