Sandal season sends plenty of people looking hard at their feet, and some end up studying the hair on their toes. Doctors say most of the time there is nothing to see.
“It really just indicates your genetics, your hormones, factors that you often can’t influence,” said Dr. Natasha Bhuyan, vice president of in-office care and national medical director at Amazon One Medical. Hair on the toes is neither good nor bad, she said. How much a person has can also vary with ethnic background.
What looks normal on one person can look quite different on the next. “Everyone’s normal is different, but hair on toes is normal,” said Dr. Michael Richardson, a family medicine doctor in Boston. “Just because you have hair on your toes doesn’t mean that’s abnormal.”
When loss means something
Lost toe hair has several possible explanations. The least worrying is friction. Shoes that rub against the toes can wear the hair away, and Richardson said he sees it in runners. Medication can change things too. Bhuyan said steroids can sometimes cause hair growth, for example.
Blood flow is the cause that worries doctors. “If there’s decrease in the vasculature, so any damage to the blood vessels, we’ll see this with peripheral artery disease, where the blood is just not circulating as well, the tissue isn’t as healthy and can’t grow hair,” Richardson said. Where the hair was, the toes look smooth and shiny.
He was careful not to oversell the link. “Toe hair is not going to be the first sign if something is going wrong,” Richardson said, “but if you’re noticing that it’s less than normal for you, that could be signs of something damaging that area.”
Bhuyan added other signs of poor circulation to watch for: cold feet, or pain when walking. Those problems are more common in older adults and smokers.
Still, Richardson said, “more often than not, toe hair is going to be normal. If you don’t know where to go, it’s always a good idea to talk to your doctor.”
If you want it gone
Removing toe hair is safe if done properly, Bhuyan said, and it serves no health purpose, so it is a matter of preference. For sparse hair she recommends tweezing, with clean tweezers. Shaving is fine with warm water and a gel, which helps cut down on ingrown hairs. Hair removal creams are an option, but she advised a small patch test first, “because some people can have reactions to hair creams on their skin.” Laser hair removal and electrolysis offer a longer-term fix.
Consult your doctor for medical advice.
