The Dx game

[ArmyMedic100]

I have served two tours as a combat medic in Iraq and have put my feet through hell. I thought I had contracted some run of the mill Tinea, and attempted to treat it with every available anti-fungal (including oral Lamisil) with no luck. Naturally I moved on to steroids and regular use of Kenalog and Betamethasone have yielded no results. Not surprisingly I have had some pretty heavy callousing and have attempted to treat it through numerous pedicures and regular use of pumice or the pedi-egg. Within a week I'm back to square one. Bag balm and other heavy moisturizers don't seem to have any lasting effect, even if I keep my socks after application and continual application. It seems like I have very accelerated hyperkeratosis with an orange/yellow discoloration, and in the softer areas of my feet I experience what seem to be deep blisters that itch extremely bad until I rupture them. The fluid is clear and the blisters run deeper than normal and are fairly small. In fact the bullae aren't even visible but are palpable. I'm not even active in the military anymore, and my activities are fairly docile now but I still have this issue. I've seen 3 doctors and now carry 3 diagnosis to include, tinea, exema, and dermatitis. Is there any other condition or treatment that may be worth exploring? I seem to be pouring in pounds of prevention and getting only ounces of cure.

[Yena H Do, DPM]

it sounds like you have hyperhydrosis (extra sweating) on the bottoms of the feet.
start by drying out the feet.  soak them in epson salts and water and get a prescription from your podiatrist called UREA-40.  apply this on twice daily after you swipe the skin with stridex pads (anti-pimple pads).
it also sounds like you have a bout of fungus or contact dermatitis to this also.  it is difficult to assess this w/o seeing it...you will need to apply ciclopirox .77% suspension to the skin twice daily for 4 consecutive weeks.
this should cure it.  lastly, change your socks several times daily and give them air.  

[pdh13]

My husband was also in the Military and had this little blistery stuff all over his feet as well. He went to several doctors treated it with over the counter stuff for  athletes foot and tinea, and everything else you also discribed. NOTHING worked either. Then one day we had an Old Native American Lady tell us to take the clover that grows the purple flowers.... and only when the flowers are blooming on it pull the leaves off the stems, wash them.then take those leaves and put them in a bottle of alcohol and let it steep till it turns colors, it will turn kinda a greenish brown color, then pop those little blisters and he applies this with a qtip to his feet after he gets out of the shower , also make sure your feet are dry and again just before he goes to bed. Says it has a really good "bite" .  it took him almost 9 month but it started clearing it up. and now it is gone .. he does sometimes get it back now and again but we always keep some of this on hand. I am not a doctor but I thought I would share this with you because he was at his wits end too because that foot rot as he called it hurt him... and he sometimes got it on his hands from messing with the blisters. Hope this helped you PDH13