Painful White Spot On The Bottom Of Foot:
Have you ever considered how important your feet are? They act as a platform with the help of which you stand, walk and run. It won’t be wrong to say that healthy feet are the foundation of a healthy body and an active life.
With a complex structure of bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, and tendons, your feet help with balance, mobility, and posture. Therefore, it’s essential to make foot care a priority in your lifestyle.
Unhealthy feet lead to pain in body parts, poor posture, and cause imbalance. Feet are vulnerable to stress and injury. If not dealt with on time, they lead to severe problems, including bunions, corn, calluses, hammertoes, and bacterial and fungal infections.
Painful white spots on the bottom of foot
The superficial fungal and bacterial infections mainly cause painful white spots on the bottom of foot. The most common among these are medical conditions like athletes’ foot, planter calluses, and warts. Let’s dive in to learn more about the causes and how to take care of painful white spots on the bottom of foot.
1. Athlete’s foot
This is a fungal infection in people whose feet become sweaty because of tight-fitted shoes. The symptoms include white spots, blisters, and inflamed skin that lead to an itchy and scaly rash on the bottom of the foot. Since it is contagious, it can spread through contaminated floors, clothes, and towels or direct contact with the infected person.
The causes of athletes’ foot are humid conditions, damp socks, and damp shoes. The risk factors increase if you frequently wear wet socks or Ill-fitted shoes, share a mat with an infected person, or walk barefoot in public places.
You can watch this video to treat these painful white spots on the bottom of foot caused by an athlete’s foot. Wash your feet daily, change your socks regularly, use alternate pairs of shoes, protect your feet in public spaces and let your feet air out when possible.
2. Skin abscess
This is an infection of the soft tissue that causes painful white spots on the bottom of the foot to appear, leading to a pocket of pus. Bacteria or parasites usually cause them. These abscesses feel firm and squishy and can be painful.
Skin abscesses usually occur in damp, closed-off areas. The common symptoms are a squelchy or numb lump, redness, and pain around the abscess, which may have white or yellow openings and runny pus or fluid.
It usually doesn’t go away on its own. Seeing a doctor may help if the situation gets worse. Doctors typically advise oral antibiotics. In case of no effect, they locate the exact area through ultrasound, numb it using anesthesia and use incision and drainage procedures to drain the puss.
3. Planter callus
A plantar callus is a patch of thickened and painful white skin that forms on the bottom part of the foot’s surface. The thick band of tissues connects your heel bone to the ball of the foot and toes. The skin of a planter callus feels hard, dry, and flaky. The color varies from white and yellow to brown.
The underlying cause is frequent pressure on a specific area. That’s why calluses are more common in feet as they carry our body weight. As a result of this weight, calluses form, but they act as protection for the skin against this pressure.
Excessive walking or jogging, wearing high heels, ill-fitted shoes, thin socks, or no socks could lead to the formation of calluses. Other potential reasons include smoking and bone deformities. It is advisable to consult a doctor if the callus fills up with fluid or pus, the calluses are recurring, or the callus is turning red.
You can treat calluses at home in numerous ways. Soak your feet in warm water, trim them down with a pumice stone and apply rich moisturizers to soften them. Extra shoe pads can help relieve pressure. If the condition persists, a doctor can treat it by removing it using a scalpel or advising to apply salicylic acid creams.
4. Planter warts
Planter warts could also cause painful white spots on the bottom of foot. A virus named human papillomavirus (HPV) causes the buildup of the protein keratin, resulting in the wart. HPV grows in dark and moist places and is transmitted either by direct contact or picked up through a crack in the skin.
They can be painful when applying pressure on the foot while walking. The symptoms include white abrasions, dark black dots, or thickened skin on the bottom of the foot.
Some planter wart heals naturally, while doctors treat other. The treatment includes cutting off the wart, laser therapy, or using salicylic creams to burn it off.
FAQs
Why have I got painful white spots on the bottom of foot?
There can be many reasons for having white spots, including fungal or bacterial infections. The buildup of hard skin may result from wearing wet socks, poorly fitted trainers, interaction with an infected person, walking barefoot in public places, and putting excessive pressure on feet.
How to look after my feet?
Always wear cotton socks and alternate pairs of shoes. Buy in-soles to cater to sweaty feet and use extra padding to prevent friction.
Does fungus cause callus buildup?
No, the main reason for callus buildup is improper foot hygiene. Wearing ill-fitted trainers increase rubbing or friction, due to which calluses form to protect that particular area against pressure.
Conclusion
Feet health has a massive impact on the overall body’s health. Give your feet the due care and attention. Always wear cotton socks and comfortable shoes. Get custom-made in-soles and use extra padding to avoid getting into feet problems.
Additionally, start training your feet to ensure feet strength and their proper functioning. If feet don’t perform their functions properly, it could lead to severe problems affecting the health of the rest of your body and your entire life. That’s how you can take care of Painful white spots on the bottom of foot.