The most neglected part of our body is the foot. Why is it so? Because we never look at it ourselves or most often they are covered. We fail to realize that these feet only carry us around throughout our life. Don’t you feel they deserve more attention than they are getting at present.

Proper footcare will definitely avoid various foot problems like corns, callosites, fungal infections, ingrown toe nails, athletes foot etc. Special care is required in Diabetes patients with peripheral vascular disease.

Here are some simple tips to help you maintain soft, clean and beautiful feet.

1. Soak feet in warm but not hot water for 10 minutes. Scrub feet with a brush across the toes, the heel, the underside of the foot.
   
   
2. If there is a lot of flaky dry skin, it can be scraped away with a foot scraper. Put feet back in water to brush away remaining shreds of skin.
   
   
3. Clean under the nails down the side with cotton bud dipped in warm water. After dipping again in water to get rid of the last bit of skin or dirt, towel dry thoroughly especially between the toes as damp skin is more prone to crack, grow fungus or become infected.
   
   
4. Then massage in body lotion / moisturizer in the night – twice a week to prevent development of dry & cracked skin.
   
   
5. Clip nails straight across, neat and square, using nail clipper, never scissors. It is important to keep the nails straight even if long, to prevent the possibility of ingrowing toenail.
   
   
6. File nails smooth but to shape, keep straight and square lines, no sawing back and forth.
   
   
7. When applying nail polish, always apply a base coat, then 2 color coats. Base coat prevents it from flaking and chipping off. Before applying the nail polish, separate toes with wads of cotton or a strip of tissue.
   
   
8. Wear closed shoes as far as possible, as they keep the feet a lot cleaner and protected compared to any kind of footwear.
   
   
9. Before wearing shoes, sprinkle powder, especially between toes for daylong freshness. Always wear shoes half a size bigger than your feet.
   
   
10. Socks or protectors in females should preferably be in cotton.
    
    
11. While buying footwear give some thought to the quality of the material rather than just the cost.