The reasons behind nose-pinching feet

Dear Doctor,

I have a problem that started way back in 2007; my feet started producing a bad smell whenever I wore closed or open shoes.

This was quite embarrassing to me, especially since my feet would smell even though my shoes were still on. I never had this problem during my high school years.

I have wasted a lot of money visiting private and public hospitals trying to get this fixed but the problem persists. Is this problem common? Is it curable, and if so, where do I go to get help?

The cause of your feet producing a bad smell is similar to that of other parts of your body. Your body releases sweat throughout the day, and in addition to this, you shed your skin.

The bacteria found on your skin feed on these body secretions and dead skin cells. As these bacteria feast on your body secretions, they release chemicals that cause the foul body odour.

With more than 250,000 sweat glands each, our feet are among the most sweaty parts of our bodies.

What makes it worse is that the sweat from our feet cannot easily escape into the air like the sweat from our hands or other parts of the body that are exposed to the air.

The main reason for this is that with our modern lifestyles our feet are normally covered by socks and shoes for the greater part of the day.

The sweat in our feet accumulates on the skin and in the socks. This damp environment is heaven for bacteria.

When you take off your shoes, the smell that hits you is all the chemicals released by the bacteria. The main reason why some people’s feet smell worse than those of others is that some people sweat more.

This is also why sometimes your feet smell much worse than at other times. It depends on how much your feet are sweating.

To reduce the bad smell from your feet you have to reduce the amount of sweat and bacteria in your feet.

You can reduce the amount of sweat that collects in your socks and shoes by wearing well-fitting shoes, using good quality socks and applying antiperspirant on your feet.

Antiperspirants are chemicals designed to stop sweat from coming out of the skin’s sweat glands.

To control the bacteria population, you should maintain good foot hygiene by washing your feet with soap and clean water, keeping your feet dry, cleaning your shoes and socks and applying foot deodorant.

Deodorants are perfumed chemicals that work in 2 ways; the first is that they cover up any smells that we may have and the second is that they kill the bacteria that cause bad body odour.

­If the problem persists, it would be important to visit a doctor as some of the causes for the excess sweating may need medical attention.

An unusual foul smell from the feet could also mean you have an infection. After examination, the doctor might prescribe some medication that could treat the excess sweating and foot infections.

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