Three Reasons Why Your Teenage Son Has REALLY Foul-Smelling Feet And What Your Podiatrist Prescribes

If you are like most parents, walking into your teenage son's room probably requires a gas mask. Between the usual body odors and the pizza box he has stuffed under his bed, your son also has feet that make Limburger and Roquefort cheeses smell heavenly. Before you begin wondering if it is legal to cut your son's feet off, here are a few things a podiatrist would suggest are the problems and prescribe to treat those adolescent foot bombs.

Adrenal Glands and Foot Odor

The biggest cause of male adolescent foot odor are the ripening of the adrenal glands. These glands share the responsibility of turning your boy into a full-grown man, and as such, they are in overdrive in the teen years. That leads to a lot of sweating through every possible pore in the human body, and on the human foot, there are a lot of pores. Because your son's feet are jammed inside shoes all day, that sweat cannot evaporate, and the bacteria that is already present on the feet and inside the shoes aids in the rapid fermentation of foot sweat. The best way to handle this cause is to have your son change his socks often, especially after exercise and gym class, and wash his feet in the morning and at night before bed.

Poor Quality Shoes

Cheap shoes are often made with very poor quality materials. These materials often have questionable sources, and that leads to foot odor. If you have ever purchased a pair of shoes for yourself that were super-cheap, only to toss them two weeks later because they absolutely smelled to high heaven, then this is exactly the problem you might be having with your son's shoes. As much as it offends the pocketbook to buy high-quality shoes, it is far less offensive than the smells the cheap shoes give off after only a few days' wear.

Dark Socks versus Light Socks

It has been stated that dark socks tend to cause an increase in bacterial growth because some dyes promote the growth of bacteria. Wearing white socks all the time helps you avoid this problem. If your son wears a lot of dark socks, force him to switch to white socks, or whenever possible, go sockless in open-toed shoes. The production of foot bacteria should scale back just enough to produce a notable downshift in your son's foot odor.

For more information, contact local professionals like Family Foot Center Podiatry Group Inc.

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