[Tamzin]

Shortly after my accident, while I was still laying in the Spinal Unit, one of the nurses used to wrap all the patients' feet with (what seemed like) wet paper towels and plastic at least once a week. After about an hour or so, she would then unwrap our feet and scrape all the 'dead skin' off the bottom of our feet! I noticed that a lot of dead skin had also formed on the inside of my hands at the time...

I always assumed that it was caused by insufficient blood circulation? But why only on the bottom of the feet and hands?

Tamzin

This post has been edited by Tamzin: 23 April 2007 - 01:02 PM

[Simon]

Its literally lack of movement. In AB's the feet and hands get most wear and tear from walking and generally living. Once you become immobile that usage which causes the dead skin to be worn off goes. Not sure why feet/hands are worst maybe nature has developed us produce more skin there...
Simon

[gsp23]

Great post, sure would have been nice for the nurses to do this to me in the hospital or tell me what it was. My parents actually took it upon themselves to do this for me. They were the ones who took my TEDs off to let my feet "air-out" every so often and they said it looked like my feet were rotting. They cleaned and sprayed them down with some foot spray, but sure would have been nice if someone mentioned something about this or if nurses would have stepped in to do this if it is that common.

[Apparelyzed]

Dry skin can also be a result of damage to the autonomic nervous system, which is compromised during a spinal cord injury.

A compromised autonomic system can cause the skin to dry out, as the ability of the skin to sweat and release natural oils is partially lost.

Regards

Simon.