Many people rarely take the time to think about the dangers of dry skin on their ankles. This problem can cause serious breaks in your skin, known as fissures, which can increase the dangers of suffering from foot amputation.

Dry Skin Causes Fissures

Dry skin on your feet will become rough, scaly, and even painful. As the skin on your ankle remains dry, it will begin to expand and crack. These cracks are known as fissures in the skin, and they can be painful and problematic to live with when they occur.

By themselves, fissures aren't necessarily a serious problem. They are also typically pretty easy to treat, but failure to treat them could allow the condition to get worse. Worsened fissures in your ankles open your feet up to a whole world of bacterial infections.

Fissures Can Get Easily Infected

While fissures on your ankle are painful, many people will learn how to ignore them rather than get them treated. This is a major mistake because untreated ankle fissures can easily lead to bacterial infections. The break in your skin will give bacteria unique access to the interior of your foot as well as the ability to spread.

While a good antibiotic should be able to eliminate the potential of amputation, bacteria and other dangers could still spread through your foot. If your foot gets too infected, the doctor may have no choice but to amputate your foot to protect the rest of your leg. This is a very unfortunate problem and is one that is easily avoided.

Avoidance of This Danger

Prevent this danger from growing out of control by regularly moisturizing the skin on your ankles. A good skin moisturizer applied to your skin a few times a day should keep fissures from forming. Wearing socks over moisturizer while you sleep can help keep your feet well hydrated during long nights spent in bed.

Treatments such as a pumice-stone friction applied directly to the fissure can help decrease dry skin and eliminate the severity of the condition. You should also try to avoid any kind of open shoe, as these can make fissures worsen. Go to your podiatrist if your fissures grow or refuse to go away.

Please take care of your feet regularly to keep fissures from occurring in your ankles. This can help prevent infections and the possibility that amputation may be necessary to save your leg.

Talk to a professional at an organization such as Pilipshen Colon & Rectal Surgical Services for more information.