Dermatologic Foot Complaints of the Young Adults: A Prospective Study from a Dermatology Outpatient Clinic in Turkey
Abstract
Objective: Young adulthood can be considered the healthiest time of life and young adults are generally in good health. However many adult patients presented to hospitals for various problems including dermatologic complaints. Almost 70 % of adults have various foot problems. Although there are more detailed population based surveys where participitants self-reported problems of foot and toenail pathology, there is sparse data about the dermatological foot problems of the young adults. The aim of this study is to determine the dermatologic foot complaints of the young adults attending a dermatology outpatient clinic.
Type of the study: Prospective study
Methods: Patients aged between 18 and 35 years, who were admitted to the dermatology outpatient clinic with a complaint of dermatologic foot disorders over a 6-months period were included. Demographic features of the patients were recorded. The patients were asked for the dermatologic complaints of the feet.
Results: A total of 107 young adult patients attended the dermatology outpatient clinic with a complaint of dermatologic foot problems over a 6-months-period. Overall, the five most frequent dermatologic foot complaints were tinea pedis (20.5 %), verruca (16.8 %), callosities (15.8 %), unguium incarnatus (13.1 %), and onychomycosis (9.3 %). In males; the most frequent complaint was tinea pedis (27.2 %), followed by verruca (18.1 %) and onychomycosis (12.7 %) whereas in females; the most frequent complaint was callosities (23.1 %), followed by unguium incarnatus (17.3 %), and verruca (15.3 %).
Conclusions: Most of the dermatologic complaints of the foot in young adults are preventable and treatable. Medical education programs for health care personnal and young adult population would have a great contribution in informing the people about the preventive measures and the proper treatments of dermatologic foot problems.
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