Fall head over heels in love - with your feet

Selfcare/OTC

Tara Camera, Content Editor

Our feet are miracles of construction. Each foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, 19 muscles, and countless nerves and blood vessels, according to the American Podiatric Medical Association. That’s a lot of ground to cover.

And our amazing underpinnings do a lot for us. They rack up the miles as they get us from point A to point B - an estimated 125,000 miles throughout a lifetime. They can even serve as early warning signs, telling us what’s going on in our bodies, such as poor circulation, diabetes, or heart or kidney disease. Isn’t it time we do something good for them?

When your patients come in looking for some TLC for their tootsies, a broad array of products can help them take care of their feet and make sure they are putting their best foot forward.

The PediFix Footcare Company is adding more than a dozen new products to its portfolio of 200 medical footcare products. Three new items are featured in its Diabetic Defense line.

Diabetic Defense Daily Therapy Foot Wash contains tea tree oil, which helps eliminate fungus and bacteria to prevent diabetic foot complications, as well as ginger to stimulate circulation and peppermint oils to refresh tired feet. Shea butter and vitamins A, E, and F moisturize the skin. The product is safe to use every day, with no harmful effects.

Daily Therapy Foot Moisturizer supports therapeutic wound treatment. Its rich formula penetrates the surface of the foot to help increase circulation, and hydrating properties moisturize dry, cracked skin to get and keep feet healthy and soft.

Moisturizing Wound Ointment is another tool for wound therapy. Clinically proven to be safe and effective, the ointment is 100% natural, combining herbs and natural extracts in a formulation that helps relieve skin breakdown and improve skin integrity.

The company also offers a new assortment of topical antifungal and nail-care products that target infections of the toes and nails.

Clearzoil Nail Beautifier moisturizes and protects nails and improves their appearance.

Antifungal Solution, clotrimazole 1%, is formulated to kill six types of nail fungus and, the company states, is highly effective around and under nails.

Callus Control Cream, which features 20% urea to smooth and soften cracked heels, will launch in June.

Several other PediFix products can also keep feet looking and feeling great. FungaSoap cleans, deodorizes, and helps soothe itchy, dry skin. Soaking Crystals Foot Bath contains epsom and sea salts and is enriched with tea tree oil. WartStick is a wax-based applicator of 40% salicylic acid that helps eliminate common warts on feet or hands.

Freeman offers two products designed for your diabetic patients. Its Barefoot Repair! Overnight Foot Cream Kit contains an Overnight Foot Cream and a pair of diabetic socks. When used together, they seal in moisturizing benefits, relieving the discomfort of cracked heels, dry and peeling skin, and rough calluses that are common in diabetes patients. Key ingredients in the cream include allantoin to relieve irritation and stimulate new tissue growth, zinc to help repair skin wounds, and copper to help accelerate collagen production.

Also from Freeman is a Lemon & Sage Foot Balm, containing tea tree oil to help soothe tired feet, lemon extract to reduce irritation and oiliness, and sage extract to relieve swelling and pain. It also contains L-Arginine, which helps improve circulationand promote wound healing. Freeman offers an easy tip for a deeper at-home treatment: Put the balm into a plastic sandwich bag and tie it around the heels. Wait three minutes and then remove the bag. Voilà!

The skin on our feet can be 20 times thicker than the skin on the rest of our bodies. Gold Bond’s Pain Relieving Foot Cream contains seven penetrating ingredients formulated to ensure that soothing relief reaches through all those layers to get to the muscles and joints. And a special blend of five moisturizers helps relieve dryness on the foot’s surface.

Designed for dry, rough, and cracked feet and heels, the company’s Therapeutic Foot Cream is formulated to condition and repair even the toughest skin. It contains seven moisturizers, plus vitamins A, C, and E.

Gold Bond’s Medicated Foot Powder provides triple-action relief: It relieves itch, absorbs moisture, and controls foot odor. This maximum-strength powder is approved by the APMA.

Dr. Scholl’s offers products that help people live healthier, more active lifestyles. These products treat common skin ailments, such as corns, ingrown toenails, foot odor and everything in between.

One Step Corn Removers are easily applied and can rid feet of corns in as few as two treatments. A clear bandage offers discreet comfort.

Corn Cushions provide immediate and all-day relief from painful shoe pressure and friction.

The medicated gel in the Ingrown Toenail Pain Reliever softens the nail for easy trimming, while a foam ring and bandage cushion and protect the affected area.

The Freeze Away products safely and effectively remove common and plantar warts at home, using a freezing treatment similar to one used by doctors. Used as directed, Freeze Away may work in a single treatment. Dual-action Freeze Away combines the freeze therapy with a fast-acting liquid.

The company’s “SweatMAX” technology in its improved Odor-X Odor Fighting Foot Powder controls wetness and destroys odor instantly, leaving feet feeling cool and refreshed.