I woke up this morning, felt mild pain on my left heel and saw a crack in the skin with dried blood. A nearby area was slightly discolored and sore on touch. Is this something I should see a doctor for? I do have been feeling dehydrated lately due to being in a crash that's now ongoing for 4 days and that seems to affect fluid balance. According to last year's blood tests I don't have diabetes. I might have peripheral neuropathy but it's not been confirmed via testing.
I agree with @Trish, especially as you suspect there might be some neuropathy. Covid permitting, it might be helpful for the doctor to actually see it and check the surrounding area. So they can establish what caused it - an injury you didn't feel at the time it happened or an issue with the skin in that area or dehydration. I'm not a doc but I would have thought there would be a lot of other symptoms in addition to your heel cracking for dehydration to be the (only) cause. Like bad headache etc.
I am not saying it's this, but something similar happened to me when I got covid although I didn't realize it at the time until I got more symptoms. My heels (and skin on my hands) cracked open and I thought it may be something to do with neuropathy and ignored it. I tried to clear the dry skin but it ended up becoming wounds. Something strange happened to my skin and I had to put stuff on my heels every day to stop them cracking open again once they finally closed up. It took a really long time to get better if not back to normal so if anyone does know anything about this...? Probably totally irrelevant. I hope you feel better soon! I hope someone can shed light on it. xx
I get cracked heels the time but I have dry skin and callouses there. Put tea tree lotion on it and then a band-aid. Probably totally different. For some people it can go on to an infection and yours is discoloured and sore close by so a good idea to ring the doctor or get to a chemist if you can do that.
I don't have any suggestions other than decide what you want to try from all the advice on the web or see a doctor or podiatrist/chiropodist or pharmacist. Just don't ignore the problem. I had a university friend who ignored her severely cracked heels and her entire heel separated from her foot around the edges. I know she was given shoe supports to wear, but can't remember if there was more to her treatment. She was otherwise well. I do know the risk of infection getting into the heel is high once it separates, and that must be avoided.
Urea cream is brilliant for cracked heels. Yes I know. I had crack that slightly bled earlier this year as my hard skin had been neglected. The cream works really well and it’s got suitable for diabetics on the label.
Fungal infection is a good bet. As a persistent symptom for anyone with ME/CFS it is certainly worth checking with the GP to rule out potential co-morbidities such as diabetes or hypothyroid which can be implicated in odd skin afflictions.
It probably is just lack of care for your heels, but probably better to get some professional advice to be sure if it's gone deep enough to bleed. I had what sounds like the same thing a few years ago, and it's difficult to treat, especially if the fissure has gone deep - it took a long time and plenty of softening & pumicing to finally get it to heal. Prevention is far better than cure! One tip, though: if you're putting Micropore over it to cover up the crack, in my experience only the genuine 3M Micropore will stick properly to the sole of your foot, while inferior "microporous tape" brands will come off.
Update: fissure still there but hasn't bled in a few days and seems to be less deep. The 50% urea cream seems to be effective at softening the surrounding tissue.
