Technique

My pedicure client has deep cracks in her heels. Is it safe to work on her?

September 01, 2003 | Bookmark +

I have had pedicure clients (usually elderly) who have deep cracks in their heels. The cracks don’t bleed or appear to be an open sore. Is it safe to work on these clients? Is there anything the client or I can do to start the healing process?


Answer

Heel cracks often occur when there is thickening of the skin of the heel which is not supple and flexible, so that minor pressure causes it to crack.

Gentle exfoliation after soaking the feet well will help some. The main way to manage this problem is to keep the skin very soft and flexible in that area. Use a moisturizer that has a keratolytic (a substance that dissolves thick keratin in the outer dead layer of skin called the stratum corium).

The moisturizer that works best for my patients is Am Lactin (available over the counter), which has ammonium lactate, a gentle keratolytic. The client must use it daily for several weeks to be effective. Do not apply it to the cracks because it can sting. The cracks can be sealed temporarily with liquid bandage (available in drugstores). Other keratolytics are urea and even some of the AHAs. If your client with cracked heels is diabetic, you must use extreme caution so that she does not get a serious infection in her skin. She should see her doctor if she has cracks anywhere on her feet that appear to be open sores.

Also, a type of fungal infection called moccasin tinea pedis can cause scaling and thickening of the heels. That would need to be treated with an antifungal cream. Lamisil cream and LotriminUltra (not regular Lotrimin) are the best over-the-counter antifungal creams; both were previously prescription antifungal creams (terbinefine and butenifine respectively) and are very effective. — Dr. Rich

 

Bookmark +

How can I prevent lifting when my client's hands are constantly in water?

I have a client who is in the medical field so her hands are constantly in water. She has me keep the length of her acrylic nails short. No matter what I do, she always has at least one nail that comes off, and she always has lifting and gets water under the acrylic. I prep the nails correctly, I have a cuticle bit to clean the cuticle area, and I wipe the nail with alcohol, dehydrate the nail, and prime the nail. What should I do?

We respect your data and privacy.
By clicking the submit button below, you are agreeing with Bobit’s Privacy Policy and this outlined level of consent.

Load More
a Bobit media brand

Create your free Bobit Connect account to bookmark content.

The secure and easy all-access connection to your content.
Bookmarked content can then be accessed anytime on all of your logged in devices!

Create Account