Alright I just need some general life advice… and the drunk thoughts category seems as fitting as any other——
Since I moved to the desert my feet have really been bothering me for the first time ever… calloused, dry, cracked… skin painful in every way… (I don’t think it’s diabetes related). I’ve been putting bag balm, Aquaphor, etc on them and it’s helping very little. What’s the protocol on a man getting a pedicure? Would that possibly be helpful? I’ve walked passed a couple shops that do that and surprisingly to me, around here it seems men are a large portion of their clientele… not to judge by appearances but in my estimation it seems men who I might assume are farm workers and therefore have a lot of wear and tear…
I would feel really weird calling a salon and scheduling a pedicure… as a man that’s just not something that’s ever been in my vocabulary before…
I think I would just head to the podiatrist. My feet are way too valuable to put in the hands of a salon. Most of my concern would be the risk ending up with some type of infection ( I have no clue what kind of training they get).
LOL My husband had the same concerns before our son’s beach wedding so I told him he was simply having “foot maintenance” to give his feet some TLC. That went down okay though he still got some teasing from friends.
To my mind, the podiatrist is for functional/medical problems, and the pedicurist is for cosmetic problems. I’m reading into your query, your issue is not with how your feet look, it is with the fact that they hurt or bleed or something. So I’d say podiatrist although it seems likely to me that the two specialties have a lot of common knowledge.
I don’t actually have a legit medical problem though I just have dry calloused skin that I need someone to scrape off… I’ve been to podiatrist before and can’t imagine them doing that to any significant extent… as you say they’re there to treat medical problems not to rub lotion into your feet—- they give medical advice and perform medical procedures—- their medical advice was to moisturize and scrape off callouses … just not able to keep up with the at-home methods and wonder if I need to see someone who does that for a living…
Sam, I would not worry, and I wouldn’t hesitate to get the pedicure. Just make sure you read reviews and any health department reports for the place. There are shops that take everything very seriously and others that don’t. The one that my whole family goes to is very worried about safety. I.e. they sterilize everything between customers, all the tools they use come out of an autoclave bag in front of you, some of the more personal items they make you purchase and bring with you each visit, etc. The last time I went in, they used the cheese grater thing more than I would have liked, meaning, my home care sucks.
Pro-tip: Make sure you pick a toenail color that matches your eyes!
You also don’t have medical training, so what’s the harm in getting a professional opinion? Whether it’s diabetes related or not, it could be a legit medical problem. At the very least, dry, cracked skin can be prone to infection, and rumour has it diabetics should try to avoid foot infections.
And if it’s not a medical concern, they’ll just tell you to go away and moisturize. And if your at-home methods aren’t working, maybe they’ll have some recommendations. Either way, no loss.
I hear ya, and your advice is valid… but as I mentioned I’d already seen a podiatrist when the dry skin issue was only slightly less worse… and their advice was just to moisturize, use a pumice stone etc… and although I don’t have much relevant medical training my wife is a board certified wound care nurse practitioner— who a lot of podiatrists have referred chronic cases that were beyond their abilities to… so I’m pretty confident that my medical concerns are minimal… but that doesn’t make it feel any better throughout the day! I’ve had calluses my whole life… it’s just now since moving to the desert that they’ve started getting dry and cracking and causing significant discomfort…
I used to occasionally get pedicures, more for the making my feet nice and soft than the painting my toenails part (which is easy to do myself if I care about that). One place many years ago then clipped a corner of my big toenail way too short, and it got ingrown, and I ended up needing to get a chunk of the nail essentially cut off by a podiatrist which sucked. I didn’t get another pedicure for many years. Finally went back, got one, and then in the next week, ended up with cellulitis on one of my feet that started spreading super rapidly and needed oral antibiotics (and an x-ray to confirm it hadn’t reached the bone). My podiatrist said that salons, even the super clean one that I went to that has that as their thing, are bacteria traps, because there’s just no way to adequately clean the tubs between customers, so it’s only really safe if you don’t use those (which defeats a lot of their ability to get the excess skin off) and (this may not be relevant here) you should never ever use their polishes since those aren’t clean at all, but bring your own. So that was my last time ever doing it, and I have a good foot scraper at home, and soak my feet and do it myself when I need to. That said, plenty of people use salons regularly with no problem—I imagine I just had really bad luck of the draw twice. But neither of the experiences I had were worth risking it IMO.
Get Baby Foot!
It’s a home foot peel and it works really well – just did it! Better than pedicures, i’ve heard. Downside is you’ll have a bunch of dead skin cells flake off over a two week period. Bonus you can do it from the privacy of your own home.
Just check with your doctor I guess since for diabetes it say “consult your physician”
This sounds utterly disgusting. Although I suppose the end result sounds appealing.
“By this process, skin is undamaged but peels easily away from the fresh layer beneath. After peeling, your feet are reborn just like a baby’s foot, giving you healthy, beautiful feet.”
haha! I think mine are almost done peeling and it is indeed disgusting. I have to say my feet don’t feel like true “baby feet” though. I mean they’re smoother and a little softer but they still feel tough somehow. I feel like true baby feet feel more like Wagyu beef or something, haha.
Still, for getting rid of calluses, I think it probably works better than a pedicure and is less risky. I guess I’m just grossed out by pedicure places; they have to reuse the equipment and while I’m sure they take tons of precautions, I can’t imagine it’s not a risk…
I didn’t take pre-baby feet pics. The afters are just boring feet, but if you want I can post. If you google you will find some representative pics during the peeling process.
I’ve been intrigued by Baby Foot before, but given my sensitive skin, have been hesitant. The general consensus amongst reviews seems to be both disgusting and amazing ha. But at least disgusting in a way not involving other people’s bacteria and fungus (fungus can be ever harder to deal with than bacteria, once it gets into the nail).
