Sweaty feet: causes, tips and what to do

Sweaty feet means that the soles of your feet (and sometimes the instep) produce more sweat than is necessary for cooling. There are a great many sweat glands on the soles of the feet; the figure often cited is 250,000+ glands per foot.

Common factors: heredity, stress, heat, exercise, tight or non-breathable shoes, and synthetic socks. Fresh sweat has hardly any smell of its own; an unpleasant odour mainly develops when moisture remains in socks and shoes for a long time and bacteria and fungi break down the sweat. With smelly feet and foot odour, the smell starts mainly on the skin; in smelly shoes, moisture and odour can remain trapped in the lining.

The best approach is to combine two steps: less sweat on the skin and fewer bacteria in your shoes.

• On the skin: PediSpray® antiperspirant.
• In your shoes: PediFris® Classic.

Complement this with thorough drying, breathable socks and allowing your shoes to air out for 24 hours.

If your feet and shoes remain damp and warm for long periods, this creates ideal conditions for fungi and bacteria:

• Athlete’s foot (tinea pedis): itching, flaking, sometimes cracks between the toes, often made worse by moisture.
• Nail fungus: thickened, yellowed or brittle nails; may occur alongside athlete’s foot due to the same damp environment.

Manage sweating and maintain good hygiene (less moisture on the skin + clean, dry shoes) to prevent these problems or to support treatment alongside any antifungal medication.

Pitted keratolysis (keratoma sulcatum) are small pits in the skin of the sole of the foot, often near the heel or ball of the foot, sometimes accompanied by a sour or pungent odour. This is caused by bacteria that break down the skin in damp conditions.

Prolonged sweating and shoes that do not dry out are among the risk factors. What helps: keep feet dry, allow shoes to air, limit the use of synthetic materials and, as with sweaty feet, regulate perspiration on the skin and maintain good footwear hygiene.

A foot deodorant mainly masks odour with perfume; the amount of sweat and moisture in your shoes remains largely the same.

An antiperspirant (including for the feet) is designed to temporarily reduce sweat production, thereby keeping the skin surface less clammy. For those with soggy feet, applying this to the skin is often the most important step alongside good hygiene and wearing dry shoes.

Bicarbonate of soda or vinegar are sometimes used to mask odours or degrease surfaces; this may provide short-term relief. They do not structurally inhibit sweat production by your sweat glands and are no substitute for a regular routine involving suitable foot care products and shoe hygiene.

For noticeable improvement that lasts all day, using an antiperspirant on the feet combined with good footwear hygiene is generally more reliable than home remedies alone.

Certain strains of bacteria in a damp, poorly ventilated shoe can break down sweat into substances that smell of ammonia, often described as a “cat’s urine smell”. This odour can permeate the lining.

Reducing moisture (less sweat on the skin + allowing shoes to dry thoroughly) and using products designed to tackle bacteria in footwear (such as PediFris® Classic) help to combat this type of odour. The practical steps for dealing with smelly shoes tackle moisture and odour in the lining separately.

Excessive sweating in itself is not a contagious condition: it is a function of your sweat glands and factors such as heat and stress.

Please note: a permanently damp environment inside the shoe increases the risk of fungal infections (such as athlete’s foot), and these can indeed be contagious via wet floors or shared changing rooms. Proper drying and hygiene reduce that risk.

Seek medical advice if you experience pain, open wounds, signs of infection, or if you have diabetes and are concerned about your feet. Also, if you suffer from extreme excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis) that affects your daily life: other treatments can then be discussed.

For general information on sweating, please also refer to Thuisarts.nl, ‘sweaty feet’.