Beat Disease and Keep Fighting Fit
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Beat Disease and Keep Fighting Fit

Hi there! Welcome to my blog. My name is Debbie and I am a housewife from Alice Springs, Australia. I love the life I have here with my wonderful husband and our four kids. It all started about a year ago when I realised that I couldn't read the label on a jar of food I was trying to open. I asked my husband if there was a problem with the way the label had been printed but he said he could read it just fine. He booked me an appointment at Vision2000Kota and they carried out some test to rule out any serious problems. Thankfully, I just needed to start wearing glasses. I hope you enjoy my health and medical blog.

Beat Disease and Keep Fighting Fit

Two common reasons why people put off going to the podiatrist and why they shouldn't put it off any longer

Regina Barnett

Many people put off going to the podiatrist, despite having foot conditions that this professional could easily treat. Carry on reading to find out why people do this.

They feel ashamed of the condition that their feet are in

Because most people don't spend a great deal of their time gazing at their own feet, foot conditions can go unnoticed for a long time, until they reach the point where they begin to have a dramatic impact on the way a person's feet look. However, when a foot issue reaches this stage, many people find themselves ashamed of the condition that their feet are in, and because of this, they choose not to have the podiatric treatment they need.

For example, when a toenail fungus progresses, it can cause nails to detach from the nail bed or to become curled, crusty and yellowish. Similarly, a severe hammertoe that is left untreated can become so deformed that it wraps itself almost entirely around an adjacent toe. Likewise, untreated hyperhidrosis (i.e. profuse, uncontrollable sweating) that affects the feet can cause athlete's foot and leave a person's feet smelling extremely malodorous.

The smells, texture changes and deformities that these conditions cause can leave sufferers too embarrassed to visit their podiatrist, which can, in turn, lead to these conditions getting much worse and potentially causing permanent damage. This is something that is of great concern to many podiatrists, as these professionals want nothing more than to help people who have serious foot problems that are reducing their quality of life and are completely unfazed by even the most severe foot deformities, infections and wounds. As such, the shame that these people feel about their feet is entirely unnecessary and only serves to delay the process of restoring the health of this part of their body.

They underestimate how serious their foot problems are

Some people also put off going to the podiatrist because they underestimate how serious their foot condition is and do not realise how important it is to receive treatment for their issue. For example, if a person who is an undiagnosed diabetic develops a small wound on the sole of their foot, they might assume that it was caused by stepping on something sharp, instead of recognising it as a diabetes-induced foot ulcer.

This could result in them not going to their podiatrist until the ulcer has become infected and is at the point where it is compromising the health of the entire foot. This can then lead to their foot having to be partially or fully amputated rather than treated with wound-cleaning techniques and the administering of antibiotics.

As such, people who have what they think is most likely a mild foot issue and who are on the fence about whether they should ask their podiatrist to examine their feet should always err on the side of caution and see this professional as soon as they can.

For more information, contact a podiatrist.


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