Does anyone's else's feet shed from swimming?

jen007

Hey guys.

Random question, but I used to swim a lot when I was younger (club member, (5/6 times a week) and I remember having this problem, but wondering if anyone else experiences it?

I've recently started again, I swim 2 times a week and my feet have started shedding skin. Just around the heel, it never done this before and I'm thinking could it be the chlorine thats doing it? I used swimming socks in the past, but I HATED the feeling of these (I'm funny with certain textures)
I often give myself pedicures/remove any hard skin, but i'm stumped as to why.

Fire_Fox

The feet are generally the only part of your body where you have a thick horny (dead) layer of skin. You would find it painful to walk if you thinned this layer to the average of the rest of your body when you do a pedicure. Skin actually naturally exfoliates better when well hydrated so you may find the 'culprit' is simply the fact that your feet are being soaked twice a week. The chlorine may be playing a role, it certainly strips the lipids out of the skin barrier and bonds to the proteins in skin and hair.

You might try bolstering your skin's natural barrier function but using a foot cream every night containing skin identical lipids - medical grade lanolin supplies cholesterol and saturated fatty acids for example. You might also try a product containing either urea or lactic acid, both of these are humectants (water attracting) but also exfoliants (remove dead skin) and are natural to skin.