Any advice for foot eczema?

[Janelle205]

So, pretty much the only good thing about being on maintenance pred is that for two years, I haven't had more than the tiniest amount of eczema.

Not so much right now.  It's only on one foot, but we're now to the point where my heels have cracked open, bleeding, and it hurts to walk.  It's not just the heel either, the sides as well.  I need to have surgery on this foot, which I have been putting off until after we move.  Right now it is cracked, peeling and bleeding directly over the potential surgery site as well, which I'm pretty sure is going to make that a no-go until it is healed.

I don't have anything prescription for it at this point besides a mild steroid (desonide).  All that I have been doing is vanicream and then cover with a cotton sock.  I haven't been doing that as much as I probably should, but will probably try to do more applications - pain is motivating.  I'm sticking with no shoes and just socks as much as possible - shoes rub.  However, when I'm out and about, it pretty much has to be tennis shoes until after the surgery.

[GoingNuts]

I have had the heel cracking problem often, but for me it wasn't eczema.  Just run of the mill very, very dry skin exacerbated by my habit of wearing clogs in inappropriately cold weather. 

[Mookie86]

I'll watch this thread for advice.  I don't have eczema on my feet, but like GN, I have very dry skin on the heels and down the sides of the feet.  I'm getting better about wearing slippers in the house, so hopefully that'll help.  Normally I go barefoot or wear only socks.

[krasota]

Athlete's foot can present like that.

[Janelle205]

The doc did peek at it a few weeks ago and agreed that it was eczema, though it was much, much milder then, so we didn't really talk about treating it.  I may have to go back if it keeps opening up, since I get infections very easily from the long term pred.

When I was a summer camp counselor, I (and a few other folks) had pretty bad heel cracking at one point from tripping - in and out of the water for canoe trips and then in hiking boots for hiking trips.  At that point, we just superglued the cracks shut and tried our best to take decent care of our feet and get them to dry out at night.  I'm thinking that this would probably be a bad idea now though.

[GingerPye]

No eczema here but very dry feet -- I use the petroleum jelly and the socks.  It works better than Vanicream for that --- I've used Vanicream often; we have it here all the time for my eczema kids.  Be sure to soak in a bath first, maybe even the bleach bath (altho not sure that's a good idea with open wounds) and then quickly do the petroleum jelly.

[Janelle205]

The massive vanicream attack seems to be working well on this front, though if things change I will try the vaseline.  Have been doing at least 4x a day and keeping covered with socks as much as possible - I even managed to sleep with sock on last night, which was a bit of a miracle.

I was maybe a little naughty today and before I did my last application I peeled off some of the thin really flaking pieces of skin - but it is hard to resist, you know, like peeling a sunburn.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to hit up the doc for a pred burst within the next week or so for asthma stuff, so that will probably wipe it the rest of the way out.  Hopefully.

[GingerPye]

Glad it's helping your feet!

[YouKnowWho]

Janelle - I always found peeling off the yuck and getting down to the raw to be the easiest way to treat DS1's eczema.  Otherwise it just seemed like I was moisturizing dead skin, kwim?

I saw this thread last night and giggled.  Why?  Because I was searching for eczema cures in Walmart yesterday because the spot that I have been dealing with since last June is spreading.  Initially I thought my crappy sneakers irritated it (my feet are just odd and finding shoes that don't irritate them is harder than not due the fact that I have a tall rise but my feet are short in stature so my ankles are usually rubbing).  Now that I have gone back to wearing a clog as opposed to my sandals, it is a mess.  All on the top of my feet.

Took the hint here and slathered with vaseline last night and today after shower - it's better but I should probably take my butt off to the dr to have it looked at since I am guessing at eczema when it could be some strange fungal issue (considering all of my kids had their first bout with hand/foot/mouth disease after said vacation).  Who has time for that though 

[jschwab]

One thing I noticed was that you said you are wearing tennis shoes. I used to get itchy rashes on my feet from athletic shoes. There are so many chemicals that go into the foams and padding. I didn't wear them at all for years until minimalist type athletic shoes came on the market minus all the foam padding. Just a thought...

[Janelle205]

Right now other shoes aren't really an option - I've tried a ton of different ones and I get the least foot pain from the ones that I have now, so until surgery, I'm running with it.  I did switch out the padding that came with the shoes for a pair of orthotics from the physical therapist.


YKW - picking off the skin usually does help, but since I've been bleeding and am really prone to infection, I've been trying to be good about not doing anything that will open it up in any more places.

[hedgehog]

I was going to say the same as GN.  Vaseline under socks.  Slather the Vaseline on at night, then cover with a sock for bed.  It really works wonders on yucky dry feet.