Nail polish is a waterproof barrier and toenails have moisture that comes up from the skin, under the toenail and out of the toenail plate into the atmosphere. If you continue to wear nail polish for too long, moisture builds up between the space of the nail and the toenail polish creating cracking and natural fungus increases and becomes white fungal craters on the surface of toenail. If this is caught early do not reapply nail polish to hide or cover it. Make an appointment with the podiatrist as soon as possible and the podiatrist will remove all the superficial cracking and apply a strong anti-fungal nail lacquer to kill any existing fungus and the nail will have immediate visual improvement.

Pedicures can be a lovely and relaxing experience when all goes well. A serious problem can arise when a pedicure goes badly wrong.

Sometimes the nail can be trimmed too much down the sides and this can lead to severe sensitivity of the nail plate pressing on the nail bed instead of the tough skin at the side where the nail is supposed to sit in its tracks. This tough skin is called the nail sulcus and should never be removed although most people refer to it as ‘hard skin at the sides’.

Another problem can be serious fungal nail infection that can occur from removing the safety barrier which is called the nail cuticle. We can explain the safety of the nail cuticle in terms of your bathroom. For example, the bath has silicone putty around the edges to stop water from leaking down the sides of the bath in between the space of the bath and the wall.

Without this special silicone seal, the water would become mouldy and fungus would grow in between the space of the bath and the wall. This is what the cuticle is there to prevent. It creates a seal where the nail goes under the skin into the root of the nail. Without the cuticle, moisture builds up in that space and starts a fungal infection which affects the nail root and starts to grow a fungal nail.

Incorrect nail cutting is one of the biggest ‘pedicure gone wrong’ problems that we see in our clinic at the Dubai Podiatry Centre. Usually a nail spike is left and creates a big infection as the body tries to reject the foreign object, which is actually part of the existing nail plate.

Another common problem is when the nail is cut away too much at the sides which can lead to irritation and most likely an infection.

If you have received a pedicure which has left you with sensitivity or infection, make an appointment as soon as possible with the Podiatrist to check the toenail status. Leaving it too long can lead to the toenail becoming so infected that the nail needs to be removed completely.

Most flatfeet that we see here in our clinic at Dubai Podiatry Centre are actually not real flatfeet. Most of the conditions we see involve the ankle rolling inwards, which depresses the arch in the foot. Making an orthotic that addresses the ankle deviation by aligning the ankle into a straight position will engage and lift the arches up again. This movement is achieved with an orthotic that is tilted. In almost every case, one foot leans in more than the other. Therefore, the tilts added to the left and the right orthotic will be different. Just as lenses in eye glasses are usually different prescriptions, this is also the case for orthotics that correct the ankle misalignment.