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Hi
First time poster ! Got diagnosed April 2019. 48 year old female if that’s relevant
Have been feeling quite well , but lately over the last few months have been suffering really badly with fissures on soles of feet do sore that it is painful to walk . Skin also very dry and cracking .
Have tried nearly every cream on the market . I exfoliate and moisturise every day nothing is helping!!!! Also very itchy.
Could this be PBC related.Any advice greatly appreciated
I get really dry feet too. I don't think mine are as bad as yours but what works for me is I use Vaseline on them at night. It works even better if you put on the Vaseline with a cotton sock over. You maybe have already tried this but I have really good luck with it.
Pam
Thanks for your reply .Anything is worth a try !
I have heard vasaline locks in the moisture
4pjx- me too. By day I put baby massage oil from waitrose on my feet after a shower. If I miss doing it, then I have dry cracked skin in 24hours.
Hi Kingy68, I don’t experience dry feet (just eyes and mouth) 🙄!
Not sure if your problem is PBC related, but I use Flexitol on my feet and I find it pretty fabulous. Is it worth speaking with a pharmacist or podiatrist?
Well done for your first post and good luck 😉 x
I rub coconut oil on my feet, wrap them with Saran Wrap then put socks on overnight. Works really well.
Vitamin D deficiency can cause dried skin too.
Have you had your thyroid levels and thyroid antibodies checked? Low thyroid causes dry, cracking skin on feet/heels. It's fairly common to have both PBC and Hashimoto's.
I have had very dry feet, which I think is perhaps linked to PBC and as periwinkle88 says to Hashimoto's as well. I have used various creams with urea in them. Pharmacists usually have good advice. Try soaking your feet in warm water with lemons, then put on the cream, and socks at night.
My feet are also very dry and yesterday i was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. There may be a link and will ask at the Diabetes Educational day on 23 September and let you know
liver-bird - I'm sorry that you have added diabetes to your load. Will you be aiming to reverse it through diet so that you don't need meds?
Thanks 4thplinth - I am certainly going to try and control my blood sugars by diet alone and am trying to lose weight to help me do this. Thank you for your concern. Best wishes x
liver-bird - random question! Do you drink coffee?
Hi and welcome to the group.
As a long since retired chiropodist may I offer the following advice.
There is a fine balance between exfoliating and having a healthy amount of dry skin. If you are using a metal rasp please stop. A sandpaper style file is much kinder to the feet and around the heels should be used at an angle to avoid damaging the softer skin under and around the ankle. At this time of year many of us (including me - and I should know better) walk around in sadals or with barefeet. This dries out our skin and if we have a tendancy to dry skin generally it will be worse on the feet. In the past for patients who suffered heel fissures I would cream and devise a heel dressing to retain the cream. Nowadays there are moisturising socks which can be found on Amazon as can Gehwol-Fusskraft-Cream which I always found to be of very good quality. One elderley patient who had very dry skin would in those days take a daily foot bath in olive oil and then sit with her feet wrapped in a warm towel, this worked very well for her. Your age may play a part as sometimes as we approach menopause our skin texture can become drier.
Shoes should have a decent sole to protect the soles of your feet and enclosed backs to stop heels drying out. I would always recommend the modern day equivalent of the good old fashioned lace up which manifests itself as the trainer. My granddaughter has a pair of modern fashion trainers which are not quite so effective but are better than high heels.
Let me know if I have missed anything, sometimes it takes a while to drag knowledge from the filing system I call a brain 
As to the itchy it may be part of the dry skin problems of your feet but itching is a known symptom of PBC.
I have been using Kalaya hand and heel repair it has emu oil in it. I have found that helps but by the sounds of it, my feet aren’t as bad as yours.
Kingy68 - you may like to start off with flexitol to get an improvement and then maintain that with moisturising in socks at night and re-moisturising after shower in morning. Works for me but if I miss one day the dryness will return.
Kingy68 - I hadn't seen what butterflyEi said when I replied. I'd bow to her judgement! I'd just add, I have a small patch, 20p to 50p size, that sometimes itches. I NEVER EVER SCRATCH IT. I know it will not stop it itching. I moisturise, put a sock on, and leave it alone. After a while, I think "o, it's stopped itching". This happens about once a week.
Thank you all for your very helpful comments .
Will must definitely be taken some of your advice .
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