Affiliated Foot Care Center
Call 860•349•8500 or 203•294•4977
Sweat itself is odorless, but it creates a beneficial environment for certain bacteria to grow and produce bad-smelling substances. These bacteria are naturally present on our skin as part of the human flora (though exponentially more smell is created when closed-toe shoes are worn) . The front part of the foot is where it produces the most sweat. Therefore, more smell is created with factors causing more sweating, such as wearing closed-toe shoes for many hours. Socks generally do not cause foot odor on their own, but when worn along with shoes, socks can help to trap the hair on the feet, especially on the toes, may contribute to the odor's intensity by adding increased surface area in which the bacteria can thrive.
Your feet are densely covered with sweat glands and perspiration can combine with surface bacteria to cause unintentional foot odor. Hair on your feet, especially on the toes, may contribute to the odor's intensity by adding increased surface area in which the bacteria can thrive.
The kind of socks you wear can also impact on foot odor, as socks that do not breathe sufficiently can actually increase your foot odor and give the bacteria that causes it more room to grow.
Since your socks absorb varying amounts of perspiration from feet, wearing shoes without socks will tend to increase the amount of perspiration contacting feet and increase bacterial activities that causes odor. If you wear nylon stockings or pantyhose This may also increase foot odor.
The quality of foot odor is often reported as a thick, cheesy smell. Some describe the smell like that of malt vinegar, but can sometimes be ammonia-like. Foot odor can sometimes be caused by wearing the same socks too many times in a row and sweating. Brevibacteria are considered a major cause of foot odor, as they ingest dead skin on the feet, especially on the soles and between the toes, converting in the process the amino acid methionine to methanethiol which has a sulfuric aroma.
We can treat your foot odor problems in several ways. We can also check your feet to make sure that the odor is not an indication of some other problem and address that as well.