Another Solution for Ugly Feet

I know this foot thing is bordering on the obsessive.

But short of cosmetic surgery, Botox and a 24/7 hair stylist, here's what I need most: Better feet.

Make that presentable feet. I'm one of those people who has taken to wearing socks around the house. Not to spare just my family the sight of my unsightly sole -- but also myself.

So you know it's bad.

Then, this week, I made a haphazard and amazing discovery. Somehow I found time to flop into the pool. We live in Miami, so getting to the beckoning blue is as simple as taking the elevator to the ground floor and waddling a hundred feet to the edge.

I spent, oh, 45 minutes in the water. And low and behold, that chlorinated, sandy water of questionable cleanliness did for my feet what no amount of scrubbing, soaping and moisturizing has.

My feet actually looked fresh. Well, at least not deceased, then. My skin was more pink than it's been in a long time. The fissures were still there, but less stained. And any crustiness was gone.

I told you. Pretty it ain't. But better it is. Really.

Maybe if I were a bath person, long soaks in the tub would work just as well. But I doubt it. I think the real credit goes to the swimming pool chemical concoction that makes your bathing suits look faded and frayed. That, plus the workout your feet get merely by rubbing up against the rough concrete on the bottom.

Someone should market pool water for every ugly-sole sufferer living north of Florida. Believe me, these waters are sacred.