How Getting Older Affects Your Feet

The wear and tear on your feet over the years can really take a toll with increase in skin conditions, infections, and injuries all the more likely. However, you can help prevent many of the more severe complications with proper foot and ankle care and by having regular visits with your foot doctor.

Some of the issues that affect your feet more as you get older include the following:

• An increase in skin conditions like calluses—Fluid balance and dehydration become more of a problem as you age, and dryer skin leads to more instances of cracking and bleeding. Painful cracked heels and heel fissures can lead to infections. Stay properly hydrated by drinking healthy fluids and using lotions and creams on cracked skin.
• Joint pain and stiffness—Several types of arthritis tend to develop as you get older, causing pain and stiffness in the joints of the ankles and feet.
• Thickening toenails—The growth of your nails slows as you get older, and they become thicker and harder to trim properly.
• Microbial infections—Since your immune system decreases in efficiency as you get older, you are more likely to experience microbial infections.

For any age-related foot and ankle problems you may be experiencing, see your foot doctor for the proper treatment and to minimize and prevent future complications. The foot experts at Desert Podiatric Medical Specialists, in the Tucson, Oro Valley, and Green Valley areas of Pima County Arizona, have unparalleled experience in treating all aspects of foot and ankle care. Our team of doctors, including Christopher M. Funk, D.P.M., FACFAS, Bradley A. Whitaker, D.P.M., FACFAS, and Peter C. Merrill, D.P.M., AACFAS, is dedicated to serving you with state-of-the-art, cutting edge medical technologies including the PinPointe FootLaser, custom-fitted orthotics, and Radial Pulse Therapy (RPT) for chronic foot, heel, or ankle pain. If you have any questions or would like to make an appointment please call (520) 575-0800.