I have idiopathic polyneuropathy, thought to be hereditary since I was born with congenital foot deformities (probable Charcot-Marie-Tooth). I read on a podiatry board that caffeine can be significant in impairing circulation in the feet. I gave up caffeine about six months ago. I had no hair on my toes at that time, but it is regrowing on the larger toes. I'm concerned about the redness of my toes, and that is how I happened to find this thread.

Have you tried some epsom salt soaks? That really helps the circulation, because it opens up the small blood vessels that may be constricted in the feet. It is also good for pain. (magnesium).

I lost all my arm and leg/feet body hair when my thyroid went south. Some grew back on my lower leg, but only in spots just below the knee.

Thank you. I'm going to try that. Earlier today I came across another link where you had mentioned epsom salt soaks as well. I lost most of my leg/feet hair, correlated with the onset of my polyneuropathy. It seemed to persist behind my knees more so than other places on my lower extremities. I can't see the pattern clearly now because I shaved what leg hair I had prior to a recent gait analysis. Podiatrists say I have strong pulses in my feet, but there seems to be a problem with the microcirculation in my extremities. I've had episodes of very slow wound healing, twice resulting in infections (in a toe and an ear lobe). I still have hair on my arms, though somewhat less than before. However, I'm very prone to dropping things, and my nerve conduction test incidentally discovered carpal tunnel syndrome. Now I realize that I feel occasional, very minimal symptoms of CTS, but it goes mostly un-felt because of the neuropathy. I took 400 mg per day of chelated magnesium aspartate orally for about a year and a half. Unfortunately, I suffered **** leakage while taking that, an appalling symptom! In view of the specific circumstances and a lot of reading, I think I likely have damaged nerves/diminished reflexes in the ****/rectal area, and the oral Mg supplement caused further diminishing of neurological function and/or relaxation of muscles that resulted in the problem. (It took me a long time to become suspicious of the Mg capsules as a causal factor.) Since stopping the Mg capsules, I've been intending to try supplementing Mg via a dermal route (had been thinking of Mg oil). However, though I've read a lot about how important Mg is, I've been procrastinating trying another method of supplementation because that side effect was so disturbing, and I've been so glad to be free of it!

When you don't absorb the oral magnesium well, you can
then get the laxative action instead.

I'd stay away from aspartate....it is a stimulant to the NMDA pain receptors. (glutamate also).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NMDA_receptor

SlowMag is often much easier in this respect.

But the topical will avoid any of these problems.
I find the topical works best for me too.

Gabapentin and Lyrica also have that side effect... fecal incontinence.