Feet Corns - Causes, Symptoms And Treatment

It is a salutary fact that if you were to go barefoot every day of your life, you would not suffer with feet corns. However, this is not really practicable for most of us so it is important that we recognize how to recognize and treat feet corns.

* Causes

Corns are largely caused by pressure or friction from ill-fitting shoes. In contrast to a wart however, a corn does not contain blood vessels or nerve endings. People with a cavus foot type or extremely high arch are often prone to this affliction because their toes are pulled back a bit and thus corns tend to form on the tips and tops of the toes as well.

* Symptoms

A hard corn or heloma durum is a tough, cone shaped thickening of the horny layer of the epidermis that usually occurs over a toe joint, having a hard brownish-grey "eye" in the center and surrounded by inflamed skin.

A soft corn, or helona molle, forms between the toes as a result of friction ( e.g shoes rubbing). It is soft because the sweat between your toes softens what is normally hard corn tissue. Between every corn there is a a prominence of bone, so when your toes are squeezed together, such as when wearing narrow, tight flat shoes or pointed-toe, high heeled shoes, the bones will rub against each other, causing increased pressure and irritation.

As a result, layers of tissue will continue to grow over the pressure point(s) until a corn or two are formed. This constant friction between your toes causes the skin of the soft corn to either die or become at least inflamed, which can lead to extremely painful walking.

* Treatment

The options for treatment are either to change your shoe style or take off the pressure from your corns, so that they will improve and go away on their own, or continue to perform constant maintenance on your existing and new corns.

Corn pads can be bought from your local drug store and will provide some padding for extra comfort. As they take up extra space be sure to wear roomier shoes to accommodate when wearing the pads.

Some foot specialist do disagree as to whether or not to apply salicylic ointment or drops (also known as corn drops) available from the drug store, to your corns. On the one hand the drops can help remove the skin, but if any acid runs off onto the surrounding skin, it can burn and even cause a hole or ulcer to form. The drops can be applied to the center of the corn pad, however if using please do so with care.

If a diabetic, please do not use salicylic drops to treat your corns. Ulceration of the skin could lead to serious problems.


Copyright (c) 2010 Eamon Greville