Sweaty feet: what to do? Causes, tips and solutions

Sweaty feet means that the soles of your feet (and sometimes the instep) produce more sweat than is necessary for cooling. There are a great many sweat glands on the soles of the feet — often cited as 250,000+ glands per foot.

Common factors: heredity, stress, heat, exercise, tight or non-breathable shoes, and synthetic socks. Fresh sweat has hardly any smell; an unpleasant odour mainly develops when moisture remains in socks and shoes for a long time and bacteria and fungi break down the sweat. You can read more about smelly feet, foot odour and smelly shoes on our separate pages.

Address it in two ways, just as with unpleasant shoe odour:

• On the skin: an antiperspirant for the feet (such as PediSpray®) helps to calm overactive sweat glands, so that less moisture reaches the skin.
• In the footwear: PediFris® Classic targets bacteria and fungi in the shoe — this is where a lot of odour develops if the inside remains damp.

In addition: wash your feet daily, dry them thoroughly (between the toes), wear breathable socks (cotton, wool, bamboo), allow shoes to air for 24 hours and, where possible , alternate between two pairs. This also reduces the risk of athlete’s foot.

If your feet and shoes remain wet and warm for long periods, fungi and bacteria have a better chance of thriving:

• Athlete’s foot (tinea pedis): itching, flaking, sometimes cracks between the toes — often made worse by moisture.
• Nail fungus (onychomycosis): thickened, yellowed or brittle nails — may occur alongside athlete’s foot due to the same damp environment.

Manage sweating and hygiene (less moisture on the skin + clean, dry shoes) to prevent these problems or to support treatment alongside any antifungal medication.

Pitted soles (pitted keratolysis / keratoma sulcatum) are small pits in the skin of the sole of the foot, often near the heel or ball, sometimes with a sour or pungent odour. It is caused by bacteria that break down the skin in damp conditions.

Prolonged sweating and shoes that do not dry out are among the risk factors. Approach: keep feet dry, allow shoes to air, limit synthetic materials and — as with sweaty feet — regulate perspiration on the skin and keep footwear hygienic.

A foot deodorant mainly masks odour with perfume; the amount of sweat and moisture in your shoe remains largely the same.

An antiperspirant (including on the feet) is designed to temporarily reduce sweat production, making the surface less clammy. For wet feet, this approach to the skin is often the most important step alongside good hygiene and dry shoes.

Baking soda or vinegar are sometimes used to mask odours or degrease surfaces; this may provide short-term relief. They do not structurally inhibit sweat production by your sweat glands and are no substitute for a regular routine involving suitable foot care products and shoe hygiene.

For noticeable improvement throughout the day, antiperspirant on the feet plus footwear hygiene are generally more reliable than home remedies alone.

Certain strains of bacteria in a damp, poorly ventilated shoe can break down sweat into substances that smell like ammonia — often described as a “cat urine smell”. That odour can permeate the lining.

Reducing moisture (less sweat on the skin + allowing shoes to dry thoroughly) and using products designed to tackle bacteria in footwear (such as PediFris® Classic) help to combat this type of odour. See also tips for dealing with smelly shoes.

Excessive sweating in itself is not a contagious condition: it is a function of your sweat glands and factors such as heat and stress.

Please note: a permanently damp environment inside the shoe increases the risk of fungal infections (such as athlete’s foot), and these can be contagious via wet floors or shared changing rooms. Proper drying and hygiene reduce that risk.

Please visit us if you experience pain, open wounds, signs of infection, or if you have diabetes and are concerned about your feet. Also, if you suffer from extreme excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis) that hinders you on a daily basis: other treatments can then be discussed.

For general information on sweating, please also refer to Thuisarts.nl — sweaty feet.