When you have specific problems with your foot, you want to seek medical attention from a podiatrist, as this is the medical professional that specializes in foot related problems. To help you determine whether it is time for you to schedule an appointment, you will want to check out the following four foot problems.

Swelling That Will Not Go Away

The occasional swelling of your feet may not be cause for immediate concern. However, if just one of your feet becomes drastically swollen or both of you feet are swelling more often than not, you will want to call and schedule an appointment. There are many things that could be causing this problem within your feet, such as sprained ankles, tendonitis, broken or fractured bones, or even an infection.

Heels That Are Cracked Or Bleeding

A little bit of dry cracked skin on the heels of your feet is not an uncommon occurrence and it can usually be treated at home with over-the-counter creams. However, if your cracked skin is persistent, has started to bleed, or you have diabetes, it is important to make sure that you are scheduling an appointment with a trusted podiatrist, as you want to make sure that you are not going to end up with an infected foot.

Pain With Normal Walking

If you cannot get from one room to the next in your home, let alone take a walk around the block, without being in terrible pain, you will want to schedule an immediate appointment with a reputable podiatrist in your area. This is important because you could be dealing with a new injury, or an old injury that just never properly healed. Then again, you could have an old injury from the past that healed, but healed in a manner that is incorrect due to lack of proper treatment and it is now causing you problems. Either way, you need to have a foot specialist take a look at your foot to determine the cause of the problem so it can be treated for you.

Ingrown Toenail

While you might be tempted to try to fix your ingrown toenail at home, there is a chance that if you do that, you will end up with a reoccurring problem. If the ingrown toenail is not properly removed, you could end up with so much pain that the idea of anything, even a soft sock, touching your toe will cause you to cringe. Also, you are at risk for an infection. Therefore, it is best to have a podiatrist look at it and properly remove it.

With those four foot issues in mind, it should be easy for you to know when you need to schedule an appointment with a trusted podiatrist in your area (like those at Elmhurst Podiatry Center Ltd).