Foot Health Practitioner - Dip FH
Being a qualified Foot Health Practitioner enables me to help people with most foot health problems.
People often don’t think about looking after their feet, but your feet carry your weight every single day and it is therefore so important to take care of your feet and maintain them regularly so that they stay healthy.
FOOT HEALTH PRACTITIONER (FHP)
I carry out various treatments on the feet such as:-
- Toenail Cutting
- Ingrown toenail treatment
- Corn & Callus (hard skin) removal
- Verrucae treatment
- Athletes foot
- Fungal Nail infections
- Diabetic foot care
- Foot Health Assessments – to test the blood circulation in the feet and also to check the nerve sensations to make sure they are functioning normally.
Some of the common foot problems you may experience are below and I can treat all of these for you:-
Ingrown Toenails (also known as Onychocryptosis)
An ingrown toenail is when a toenail (typically the big toe) starts to grow inwards and either pushes on the corner flesh or the skin or actually breaks the skin. This can be extremely painful causing the toe to turn red, burn, throb and even bleed if the nail is constantly digging into the skin.
Athletes Foot (Tinea Pedis)
This is a contagious infection that can be caught by direct skin contact. If a person shares footwear, uses communinal showers/swimming pool areas then this can easily be spread. This condition normally affects the skin inbetween the toes and results in itchy, flaky and inflamed spongy skin. If left untreated, it can spread to the toenails and also the soles of the feet.
Verruca (Latin name for Wart)
These can be found in any area of the foot. They can grow independently or are often found in clusters. They tend
to have a tiny black ‘dot’ in the middle of the verruca which is an inflamed blood vessel but some do not have this..
They are extremely hard to get rid of without professional help and even some treatments are not successful. You
may find they often go crusty and parts of the verrucae may break off as they can become quite dry.
Corns & Callus (Hard Skin)
A build up of constant pressure / friction on the foot can cause corns and calluses to develop. These can cause pain if left untreated. These will build up mainly due to the way that a person walks and therefore regular 6 weekly treatments are generally recommended to keep these at bay.
Chilblains
If feet are constantly exposed to cold temperatures, chilblains can develop. These appear as purple/dark red
areas that appear to burn and may feel hot to touch.
Cracked Heels
Cracked heels are generally a build up of dry, hard skin (Callus) which over a period of time will split and become extremely painful. Cracks can often be deep and bleed if left untreated.
These before and after images are from a client I recently treated who was complaining about pain when walking and his feet were very sore. This is after 1 treatment. Another couple of treatments and all the cracks will be gone.
Regular moisturising and wearing appropriate foot wear will help keep cracks from forming again.
Thick Toenails (also known as Onychauxis)
This is a very common condition that seems to happen as we go through the aging process. This is quite natural,
however the nails can be extremely difficult to cut yourself.
These before and after photos are from a gentleman who, due to health problems was unable to have his toenails cut. It was extremely satisfying to cut these nails as my client could hardly walk and couldn't wear shoes. He literally felt like he was walking on air when he left my clinic!
