Healthy Soles

Have a wonderful, healthy and safe Christmas from Healthy Soles to you and your family!!

I met a new patient yesterday and immediately noticed this toe. This stripe is very concerning and commonly seen in subungual melanoma. This means melanoma of/under the nail. Diagnosing and treating subungual melanoma is much more involved. Once your doctor performs the initial assessment and determines you might have subungual melanoma, they’ll commonly suggest a nail biopsy.... A nail biopsy is the primary diagnostic tool available for making a definitive diagnosis. A dermatologist or nail specialist will remove some or all of the nail for examination. If there’s a diagnosis of cancer, depending on the severity and how early it was found, treatment can include: -surgery to remove the affected nail -amputation of the knuckles of the finger or toe -amputation of the entire finger or toe -chemotherapy -radiation therapy -immunotherapy This lovely lady is going to be going to her doctor ASAP.

This is the difference one month made. This gentleman had a callus on the tip of his toe. Due to previous surgeries on his back, and a stroke, the tips of his toes tend to 'hang' and he walks on the tip instead of the pad. The callus was caused due to pressure as this area was not made to withstand constant high impact. After removing parts of the callus, we were able to see a concerning area under that was soft and fluid filled. Delaying treatment has caused this toe to gro...w in size, to become hot and red, and become extraordinarily painful to touch. At the same time, this patient has been having very concerning blood pressure fluctuations. He has had a stroke, due to very high blood pressure, so any change while on medications, is a big hint that something else is going on. An infection can cause this. Never delay treatment, because something that you may think is 'just a little sore toe', can have big implications on the rest of your body.

The toes on this delightful gentleman hadn't been tended to in a long time. Due to the thickness, from fungus, and inability to reach his toes any longer, these have grown very long and uneven. These are very brittle and were quite painful for him. As you can see, the color of the nails ranges from translucent to orange and brown. He is a happy man now! @ Nanaimo, British Columbia

Off to work. Man, it's hot and uncomfortable in these masks...... but wearing all this PPE is keeping my patients safe, myself safe and my family safe. Top priority!!