This luxe pedicure gave me baby-soft feet, with nails so shiny I’ve stopped using polish

An application of lacquer is usually the cherry on the cake at the end of a pedicure appointment, right? Well, not if your nails are so glossy they look like they’ve been coated with clear polish rather than left au naturel. But there are pedicures, and then there’s a Margaret Dabbs London Medical Pedicure.

After months wrapped in boots or trainers, my feet and nails have taken such a battering they look and feel flaky, rough and lacklustre. I'm well-versed in how to prep your feet for a pedicure, but they required something more intensive than a salon slot and a foot scrub. If a traditional pedicure is akin to brushing your teeth, a Margaret Dabbs medical pedicure is the foot equivalent of a deep clean with the dental hygienist.

Similar to a chiropody session – albeit a very sophisticated one – I was expecting my feet to be perfectly smooth and nails free from ridges afterwards. What I didn’t expect was nails so buffed that they had a mirror-like shine that made me skip the polish I’d booked and eschew painting on my favourite neutral pedicure colours in the month since.

Everything to know about Margaret Dabbs medical pedicure and how it transformed my feet

How does it differ from other pedicures?

This is a two-pronged approach – beauty and health. Making feet look and feel like new is guaranteed, but you’ll also get advice on how to keep your feet in top shape, which is crucial as we get older.

“Unlike a regular pedicure that focuses only on appearance, or a chiropody appointment that might lack cosmetic refinement, our Medical Pedicure treats feet both medically and aesthetically,” explains founder Margaret Dabbs OBE.

“It merges the clinical precision of podiatry with the luxurious experience of a spa pedicure, performed by qualified, HCPC-registered podiatrists."

What happens during the appointment?

This is a treatment that’s popular year-round, but as you’d expect, bookings boom towards summer. However according to José Espinoza, senior health practitioner who performs my Medical Pedicure, it’s an equal split between those wanting a beauty result and those here for health reasons.

I’m in Belgravia, one of twelve Margaret Dabbs Clinics in the UK. It’s light, airy, more chic than clinical and decked out in the brand’s signature muted tones. The traditional pedicure area is on the open-plan ground floor, well-ventilated for polishing, but my treatment room is downstairs and private, so that clients can discuss concerns in comfort.

Unlike other pedicures, this one is done on dry feet, and nails are tended to first, in three steps:

1. José asks my preferred shape – tidy, short, square? I opt for straight across with gently softened edges, so he clips and files to order then scrapes away flaky skin and overgrown cuticles.
2. Next, harder skin is banished from toe tips (that’ll be trainers and the treadmill) before José uses an exfoliating block on my nails to smooth bumps and remove old polish stains.
3. Finally, a buffer and lots of elbow grease are deployed like a window shammy, leaving my nails glistening, pink and healthy-looking.

Next, the medical pedicure moves onto the skin on my feet.

A scalpel is used to gently shave off the buildup that’s accumulated over winter. When José asks if I usually wear heels, as it seems there’s particular pressure on the balls of my feet, I have to ‘fess up that these days you’re more likely to find me sockless in slip-on VANS than towering Louboutins.

An electric file buzzes and tickles to finesse the skin-smoothing results before an application of nourishing, anti-bacterial balm. Not only do my feet immediately look better, but they feel lighter. When I run my hands over them, the skin is like velvet, and the results of my recent sneaker wear and lack of daily care have been reassuringly reversed.

Looking at my impossibly shiny nails, it’s a no-brainer to skip the timeless pedicure colour I had picked out for the polish step and let them shine naturally. I also quiz José for his top footcare tip: “The most common advice I’m asked for is on preventing dry skin,” he replies. “I say if you have time to use your best face moisturiser every day, you can do the same for your feet.”

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What are the health benefits of a medical pedicure?

Inspecting feet is more revealing than you’d expect. “I can often tell someone’s preferred exercise,” says José. “Sporty people often have bruises. Regular swimmers might have verrucas and runners often have dry skin and calluses. If your trainers are too tight, it can cause friction and impact the nails, especially if they are too long.”

And as our feet are the foundation for any movement we make, having a 360-degree approach to keeping them in good health offers lasting benefits beyond what pedicure colours you use to paint your toes, particularly as we get older.

“Legs and feet do so much work but are often neglected and only thought about when they give us pain,” adds Margaret. “As we get older, feet go through the ageing process in the same way as the face. We lose subcutaneous fat, the skin thins and the soft tissue becomes lax, plus the sweat glands reduce in effectiveness, which is why we have to reintroduce moisture to the skin."

Emphasising the importance of good foot health, you can add a complementary 3D foot scan to your appointment to find out your feet's exact length and width, the alignment of your feet, plus your arch height. It’s a helpful indicator if you’re getting aches and pains that could be aided by customised insoles or, in my case, to reveal why I’m terrible at balancing postures in yoga class.

The scan shows that both my feet tilt to one side, which needs to be improved with strengthening exercises if I want to minimise the risk of falling in my later years or stop wobbling when I try to stand on one leg currently.

My verdict on the Margaret Dabbs Medical Pedicure

This treatment takes luxury pedicures to another level, but the cost isn’t out of line with other premium pedis, especially when you factor in the unique benefits. In London, a Medical Pedicure with 3D scan costs from £90, while the price begins at £85 outside the city (polish application afterwards costs extra).

They recommended repeating every four to eight weeks, depending on how fast your nails grow and skin hardens. As for me, I’ll definitely be back, as I can’t remember the last time my feet looked this good or I’ve been so keen to show off my naked nails, particularly when attempting tree pose.