From itchy feet to suffering with tinnitus – Dr Jeff answers your health questions

Q) WHY are the soles of my feet itchy? It happens every day but I notice it most in bed at night. I can’t get rid of it and there’s no rash or allergy.

Iris Wetherby, Ashton-under-Lyne, Gtr Manchester

A)  Despite appearing to be a simple problem, there are actually lots of causes of itchy feet and these can range from localised skin problems to underlying medical illnesses.

Common visible skin conditions include athlete’s foot (a fungal infection in skin), psoriasis, contact dermatitis (possibly relating to shoes, socks or even detergent) or a bacterial infection known as pitted keratolysis.

If the skin appears normal, then it might be better to consider systemic conditions, which can include complications of kidney problems, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid conditions, diabetes and some types of blood disorders. Most of these are rare.

One of the most common non-visible causes of foot itch is idiopathic itch.

Several theories exist for this but one of the most recent is that it is related to our circadian rhythms, and at the end of the day our anti-inflammatory chemicals are less active and we may feel an itch more intensely than ­earlier in the day.

Q) I’M 80 and have had tinnitus since my thirties.

My hearing is fine but I was wondering if hearing aids would help cancel out the tinnitus. Is this an option?

Gerald Green Gravesend, Kent

A) Tinnitus is a sound, or sounds, inside the head created by your own hearing system.

It is a symptom and not a condition. So wherever possible, it is important to find out why the tinnitus occurs.

Most commonly, it is after attending a concert or exposure to loud noises, or simply as a consequence of age-related decline in normal hearing.

There can be medical causes for tinnitus, for example Meniere’s disease (an inner-ear problem that can cause dizzy spells), wax blocking the ear canal, damage to the ear drum causing scarring (otosclerosis).

Rarer causes include anaemia, ­thyroid disease, use of aspirin or conditions affecting the brain.

Treating tinnitus is about symptom control, unless you can identify the underlying cause and fix it.

For people with no underlying reversible medical cause, treatment revolves around providing alternative sounds to create a distraction and reduce focus on the tinnitus noise.

For those with even mild hearing loss, hearing aids can help with symptoms as they boost normal sounds and mask tinnitus sounds.