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This Is Why You Should NEVER Shower Barefoot In The Gym

This Is Why You Should NEVER Shower Barefoot In The Gym

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT.

Mark McGowan

Mark McGowan

Over the years the gym has become a place where there's increased judgement of others.

What you wear, what machine you use and how you use it all come under scrutiny, usually ending up on social media if it's bad enough.

The footwear worn are a massive thing. One look around your average gym and you'll assume that the brighter the better, as that's what every fuckers got on. But it doesn't matter what colour they are, what they're made from and what they look like. Just wear them. Everywhere. In shower, too. Honestly.

This man went barefoot in the iron paradise's showers and ended up contracting a flesh-eating infection.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Credit: iHeartRadio

The unnamed man originally thought he had a wart on his foot, but it soon became five, and eventually chunks of his foot began falling away.

He decided to share the images of his foot to let people know the perils of sharing public places like the gym with strangers. According to The Rod Ryan Show on KTBZ-FM The Buzz he tried everything he could to just let it heal, but he eventually needed skin graft surgery using fish scales.

"It started while I was training for my first ever half marathon," he told the station. "Over my lunch break, I would make a point to go to my local gym and run for a bit.

"I had never ran such a long distance before, so I wanted to make sure I was ready. Normally, I would make sure that I had all of the necessary supplies in my gym bag for after my run. There were a few occasions where I left out my flip flops that I would use when I showered, but not wanting to go back to work sweaty and smelly I made the decision to shower barefoot."

Credit: iHeartRadio

He continued: "Within a fairly short amount of time, I noticed there was a spot on the bottom of my foot that began to itch.

"When I touched it, it was a bit harder that the rest of the flesh around it, but I didn't think anything of it. I figured I had just stepped on something and it was my body's response to the foreign object. I quickly found out that I had contracted a plantar wart on the bottom of my foot."

He tried duct tape, banana peels, vinegar, and OTC acid treatments to try and heal what he thought was simply a wart, and waited six months until after his run to seek professional medical advice.

Credit: iHeartRadio

He said: "One wart quickly turned into five. When the treatments no longer worked, I moved to another doctor closer to my house. I went through the same treatments, but at a much higher concentration.

"My entire foot would swell and the pain was so bad, I couldn't walk. I couldn't even put my leg down as the blood rushing to my foot would cause the skin to swell and put me in excruciating pain.

"I had surgery in February and last week was the first time I was able to put my foot in a shoe. I have not been able to go to the gym, and have been riding around on a knee scooter due to the open wounds on my foot. I underwent a skin graft trial (grafts made from North Atlantic Cod!) and things are finally starting to close up."

Fuck-ing-hell.

Featured Image Credit: iHeartRadio​