Ever noticed any hard area of skin under the foot, which goes off after you do pedicure or a little scrapping, but keeps coming back again and again….Its high time you consider that as an alarming sign and do something about it for once, to avoid serious foot troubles in future. The major reason for the re-occurrence of the corns and calluses is not identifying the root cause of the problem..!!!
A callus (or callosity) is a hardened area of skin which has become relatively thick and tough as a result of repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation. As repeated contact is required with the ground because of frequent walking, calluses are most often found on feet. Calluses are generally not harmful, but may sometimes lead to other problems, such as corns, skin ulceration or infection. Corns might get painful if they are pinching on a nerve, and that can be really annoying. Painful corns or calluses might lead to dicey manipulations in other parts of the body to offload the pain around the corn which may result in new pain anywhere in the legs going higher up right upto the spine, even hampering one's walking style.
What Causes Corns and Calluses?
Ø Improper footwear- High heeled shoes (High-heeled shoes are the worst offenders. They put pressure on the toes and make women four times as likely as men to have foot problems), ill fitting footwear (wearing too tight or too loose shoes not matching the proper foot length and foot width causing lot of friction between the foot and the footwear)
Ø Altered foot and lower limb biomechanics (eg.excessive pronation or supination), Improper walking pattern along with weak foot muscles causing uneven, excessive pressure distribution, thereby, causing the calluses or corns.
Ø Acute corn or wart caused by a foreign body, like a splinter, trapped under the skin, especially in kids, with feet kept in closed, moist environment making it more prone for the bacteria to enter through the broken skin causing an infected corn.
Ø Foot deformities leading to formation of calluses due to excessive friction and uneven pressure distribution on the feet (eg. Flat foot, High arches, Bunions, hammer toes, etc).
Prevention-
Corns and calluses are easier to prevent than to treat. When it is not desirable to remove a callus/ corn, reducing the constant friction and pressure by offloading it will prevent callus/ corn formation. Podiatry is a branch of medicine to address such issues by identifying the root cause of the problem. After a thorough foot, ankle and lower limb examination, a podiatrist can prescribe corrective orthotics to offload the pressure from the callus/ corn, allowing the patient to walk and move around without pressure on the corn. In this way of offloading the pressure over the corn/ callus, the natural healing process is started and the corn/ callus falls off and dries on its own.
Ø If a podiatrist thinks your corn or callus is caused by abnormal foot structure, or faulty foot and lower limb biomechanics and walking motion, then medical graded corrective orthotics to correct the foot and lower limb biomechanics or deformities helps resolve the problem.
Ø They may also be dissolved with the help of a few medicines or sanded down with a pumice stone or filed down with a callus shaver,or pared down by a professional such as a podiatrist or a foot health practitioner (Word of caution: Never allow the use of sharp/ pointed objects to remove the calluses which is usually done at cosmetic parlours/ salons as it creates fresh injuries in the surrounding tissues). However, to prevent the reoccurence in future, the use of orthotically corrected footwear need to be emphasized to offload the excessive pressure areas to take care for the longer run.
Ø Application of corn caps, salicylic acid, etc to remove corns is a common treatment approach, but it inturn does more damage to the surrounding tissues often leading to infections. At times, a surgery or a local procedure can be considered to excise a plantar corn/ callus, but there is no guarantee that the corn/ callus won't come back if it is due to the altered foot biomechanics.
A conservative approach is definitely best initially before the problem gets chronic and painful. Keep the feet dry and friction-free and get rid of the stubborn and often painful calluses and corns in a non invasive way.