Medical Foot Care
Medical foot care is a very thorough cleaning of the feet and nails.
It is used as a prophylactic measure that includes, but is not limited to:
Debridement of the affected nails (the removal of nail substance, partial or complete, when the presence of such structures is causing local pathology.) along with manual temporary reduction in the size or girth of any abnormal nail plate. It is performed by a skilled podiatrist most commonly without anesthesia to accomplish any or all of the following objectives:
- Relief of pain.
- Treatment of infection (bacterial, fungal, and viral).
- Temporary removal of an anatomic deformity such as onychauxis (thickened nail), or certain types of onyxhocryptosis (ingrown nail) and onychomycosis (fungus nail).
- The shaving, paring, or debridement of corns and calluses ( keratoma, tyloma or heloma).
- Other hygienic and preventative maintenance care in the realm of self-care, such as appropriate cleaning and soaking the feet, change of shoe habits/ lifestyle and the use of skin creams to maintain skin tone.