Why do feet smell so bad?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Many people know how strong fish, bears or horses smell. But it often stinks from human feet! And all because only a person wears shoes, providing optimal conditions for the growth of fungi and bacteria. It all starts in childhood. Shoes are put on children even before they start walking. However, the finally delicate smell of young parmesan turns into a roquefort stench when children stop urinating under themselves. How can this be related?

The skin of the legs has the thickest layer of the stratum corneum, which increases its durability and protects against injury. This layer is formed by dead keratinocytes, which are constantly sloughing off and replaced by new batches of dying cells generated in the deeper, lustrous layer of the skin.

These regeneration processes are most intense in the skin of the feet, which, in the course of evolution, has more contact with the aggressive environment than other surfaces of the body.

In a modern person, as a result of wearing shoes, the sloughing of the stratum corneum has significantly slowed down, and when he finally turns out to be barefoot, he is most likely already asleep. Meanwhile, slowing down the sloughing of the stratum corneum from the surface does not stop the process of generating new keratinocytes in the lustrous layer of the skin. As a result, the stratum corneum thickens and looses significantly. These problems are aggravated if the shoes are not selected individually according to the shape and size of the foot, as well as with prolonged wearing of high-heeled shoes.

Closed shoes increase the temperature and humidity, which creates optimal conditions for the excessive growth of microflora in the altered and hypertrophied stratum corneum. By processing amino acids of the skin and its secrets, the microbiota produce odorous compounds, which in small concentrations do not pose an aesthetic problem. However, as the number of bacteria grows, so does the number of their metabolites, and the odor from the feet becomes unbearable. It should be noted that representatives of normal microflora perform an important protective function of the skin, suppressing the growth of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Therefore, the use of antibacterial and aseptic ointments can temporarily reduce odor, but exacerbate problems in the long run.

It is much more logical to reduce the amount of excess stratum corneum, which serves as both a substrate and a cozy home for microflora. Thus, it is possible to limit the growth of microflora and the amount of odorous substances. For this purpose, keratolytics are usually used - substances that accelerate the degradation of the stratum corneum of the epithelium. In its natural habitat, urine urea has these properties. In addition, entering the skin cells, urea triggers the biosynthesis of antimicrobial peptides, suppressing the development of pathogenic fungi.

Now it is clear why, in early childhood, the smell of feet suddenly changes from neutral to unpleasant? Meanwhile, barefoot aborigines still piss under their feet in wide circles and do not know about the problems of civilization!