Corns and Calluses

The areas where dry, hard and thick skin is present on the human body denote the calluses and corns. The thickening and hardening of the skin occurs for providing protection to area lying under the skin from injury, rubbing as well as pressure. These tend to become sore as they become larger.

Women who generally use ill-fitting shoes are prone to the development of corns in their leg more than the normal women. The other people who are subjected to this condition include those who stand for a long time period in the day as well as person who have bony feet.

Corns and calluses can indicate the presence of many foot problems like hammer toes as well as bunions.

The normal places where a person can see the corns are the sides and top of the toes. They have interior centres which are soft or hard.

The hard cones are the normally found ones. They are tiny and can be found on a wide area of the callus or thickened skin. These develop over the bony foot structure like fifth toe.

Soft corns have a rubbery, white texture. They develop in the space between the toes where excessive moisture is present due to sweating.

The calluses may be felt as bumpy and they have a pale yellow colour. The calluses are found more often than corns. The areas where the calluses are present are less sensitive to touch due to the excessive thickening.

Symptoms

The symptoms associated with the presence of corns or calluses in the foot of a person are experiencing pain during walking, experiencing pain while wearing shoes, the normally used shoes will be felt as ill-fitting ones and experience pain when pressure is applied.

The presence of a callus that has developed well will lead to a feeling as if one is walking on stones.

Causes

While walking or standing, the entire weight of our body is felt on the heels as well as on the foot, because this is the area where the skin will be thick. The exertion of excessive pressures on this area can lead to the development of corns as well as calluses.

A person who wears ill-fitting shoes, high-heeled footwear and well as very loose shoes are prone to the development of this condition more.

Walking bare footedly and exerting excessive pressures by walking oddly or jogging can also cause the development of calluses and corns.

Treatment

The painful cons as well as calluses are treated by the removal of pressure from the area concerned or the removal of the source of friction. This gives enough time for the healing and prevention of the corns and calluses being recurred.

The hard skin around the corn is removed to aid the removal of the corn’s centre. Then special creams are applied for dehydrating the dry and hardened area.

The pressure felt on the heel must be redistributed for the enhanced or faster healing of corns and calluses.

The most important care that should be taken is to avoid the cutting of callus of corn by oneself.