Ingrown Toenails
Edges of toenails that press into the flesh can cause pain, swelling, redness, and even infection. Your skin may start to grow over the ingrown toenail. Treatments include special chemicals, lasers, and various ways to remove the edge of the nail that presses into the skin.
Dry, Cracked Skin on Heels (Fissures)
Dry skin on any part of the body can be annoying and can cause flaking and cracking, redness due to scratching, and unsightly patches of thick or hard skin. When dry skin occurs on the feet, the symptoms are magnified due to wearing shoes, the stretching of the skin on the feet with every step . . .
Corns and Calluses
Skin responds to friction and pressure by thickening. This is helpful until the skin becomes so thick it actually hurts. Skin that thickens without a core is called callus. They usually form under the foot. Corns are thick spots of skin with a deep, central core. They usually form on the toes.
Bunions (Hallux Valgus)
A bunion is a bony prominence on the side of the foot, at the base of the big toe joint. This enlargement of the joint, spurring, bump or lump can be aggravated by sports or tight shoes. There is progressive movement of the big toe toward the other toes.
Athlete’s Foot
Athlete's foot is a common fungal infection that causes itching or peeling skin on the feet, especially between the toes. A diagnosis of athlete's foot is made by taking a scraping of skin and looking for fungus under a microscope. If nothing is seen, scrapings of skin are placed in a culture bottle to...
Foot Health Reports
Achilles tendonitis
Athlete's Foot
Bunions (Hallux valgus)
Corns and Calluses
Cracked Skin on Heels
Flat Feet
Fungus toenails
Gout
Hammertoes
Ingrown Toenails
Neuroma (pinched nerve between foot bones)
Orthotics
Plantar fasciitis
Stress fractures
Gout
If you have recurrent pain and swelling behind your big toe or in your ear, you may have gout. Gout occurs when uric acid crystals precipitate out from your joint fluid to cause pain, swelling and heat.
Ringing in the Ears – Tinnitus
Tinnitus means that you hear a sound that no one else hears. It can be a buzzing, roaring or ringing and it can even sound like a heart beat. If the sound is pulsatile like a beating heart, the doctor may look for obstructions or widening in the arteries in the brain such as those caused by arteriosclerotic plaques or a ballooning of an artery called an aneurysm
Foot Odor
Do you know why you should wear socks? It's to keep your feet and shoes from smelling.
Foot odor is caused by bacteria or fungi rotting old skin. Your skin turns over every 28 days. A new cell starts on the bottom layer of skin, then another skin cell forms underneath it. The process continues...
Fungus Toenails – Deformed Toenails
Fungus infections cause less than five percent of deformed nails. Drying of skin and skin conditions such as psoriasis are more common causes. The part of nails that you see is dead. Living nails are located underneath the skin at their base.
Getting Rid of Dark Spots on the Skin
With aging, many people develop dark spots on their skin, particularly in the sun-exposed areas of the face and back of the hands. Others develop dark spots after pregnancy or trauma, such as an abrasion, insect bite or cut.
Grapefruit Juice Effects on Drugs
Several reports show that taking certain medications with grapefruit juice can cause problems by markedly increasing absorption of the medication.
Many drugs are broken down in your intestines by an enzyme called cytochrome P450 that is normally there, so these drugs have to be given in higher concentrations than normal to achieve adequate blood levels....
No Way to Grow Taller After Puberty
Bones do not grow throughout their length. They grow from growth centers, called the epiphysis, near their ends. When a person reaches puberty, growth centers close one after the other until all the growth centers are closed forever and a person's bones can never grow again. After that, a person can grow wider, but not taller.
Radon
After cigarette smoke, radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer, causing more than 15,000 deaths each year. Radon-222 is a colorless, odorless gas that forms from the decay of naturally occurring uranium-238. Since U-238 occurs in soil and rock throughout the world, radon gas seeps into homes through the soil.
Duct Tape for Warts
A study from Cincinnati Children's Hospital showed that common duct tape is significantly more effective in curing common warts than the standard treatment of liquid nitrogen.
Colon Cleansers Can Harm
A popular natural health newsletter tells you that toxic sludge builds up in your colon, and of course they will sell you a product to remove it. This is nonsense. You don't need to cleanse your colon, and frequent use of these products can be harmful.
Colon cleansers are laxatives that soften your stool. They...
Pepper Cream for Pain Control
Pain messages are passed along nerves by a neurotransmitter called "substance P." Capsaicin, the component of chili peppers that makes them hot, blocks substance P and the resultant pain. A cream containing .025 percent capsaicin has been shown to block pain in joints, nerves and skin
Varicose Veins Helped by Exercise
A regular exercise program may be the most effective treatment for varicose veins. Veins are supposed to contain valves that keep blood from backing up. When the valves cannot close properly, veins become varicose, blood backs up and causes the veins to widen and look like blue snakes underneath the skin. Since varicose veins...
Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease
A study from Brown University Medical School showed that Alzheimer’s disease may be another form of diabetes, and all the recommendations for avoiding diabetes may also protect your memory.
Itching with no visible cause
Itching can be caused by nerve damage associated with diabetes or lack of vitamin B12, skin diseases, an allergy to something touching the skin or inside your body or a hidden tumor or infection. See my report on neuropathy. Often doctors cannot find the cause. When more than one person in a family itches, the usual cause is scabies
Your Liver Does Not Need to be Detoxified
Your liver is the organ that picks up breakdown products of your own metabolism and removes them from your body. The promoters of liver-detoxifying supplements tell you that their products "support healthy liver function" and help it do its job better.
Total Body Scans
CAT scans of the body are high-speed, highly sensitive X-rays that can find tiny tumors, weak spots on blood vessels that make them bulge out like balloons, and calcified areas that may be indicative of heart disease.
Sudden Dizziness or Meniere’s Disease
If you develop dizziness that lasts for more than a few seconds, check with your doctor. it could be a stroke. Recurrent dizziness can be caused by temporary interruption of circulation to your brain, such as blocked neck arteries or an irregular heart beat. It can be caused by a stroke, tumors on the...
Tinea Versicolor
If you notice dark brown or whitish circles on your skin, particularly on your chest or back, you probably have a fungus infection called tinea versicolor.
Tinea versicolor is especially noticeable as white spots on your skin when you try to get a suntan.
You don't have to treat it as it usually causes no harm...
Tietze’s Syndrome or Costochondritis
When patients come to me with pain in the chest and I feel swelling and they hurt when I press on ribs just to the side of the large bone in the middle of the chest, I often diagnose a usually harmless condition called Tietze's syndrome, also known as costochondritis.
Chest pain can be a...
Sunscreens
We do not know how safe sunscreens are because they have never been tested systematically. Oxybenzone in sunscreens has been shown to be absorbed into the bloodstream in humans, and to disrupt hormones in animals. Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide appear to be safe, except that manufacturers often convert them to nanoparticles that can be inhaled.
Chronic Sinusitis
If you have been diagnosed as having sinusitis, and have sought help from allergists, ear-nose-and-throat-doctors, internists or surgeons, you know that you still have sinusitis, even though you may have had surgery, allergy shots, all kinds of medications and shots or any other treatment.
Restless Legs Syndrome is Very Common
One in 20 people over 60 suffers from restless legs syndrome, a common cause of insomnia. Without any warning during sleep. their legs start to tingle, and walk off the bed.
Parkinson’s Disease vs Benign (Essential) Tremors
If you have developed shaking of your hands, you could have Parkinson's disease which is difficult to treat, or Benign Tremors which is usually easy to treat. You are more likely to have the more serious Parkinson's disease if you have the tremor at rest, a slow heart beat, rigid firm muscles, slowness to remember facts, difficulty speaking normally, depression or sleep disturbances.
Lyme Disease
Many medical authors recommend treating all Lyme disease patients with 30 days of intravenous Rocephin. However, intravenous antibiotics may offer no advantage over less expensive pills (1). For many years I have been criticized for treating my Lyme disease patients who have muscle and joint pain and fatigue with 100 mg of minocycline or...
