Tag: corns

Corns are a common disorder of the foot that can be painful and hard to treat. Corns are due to an excessive amount of pressure on an area of skin. They are part of a normal mechanism that has gone awry. Anytime there is a lot of pressure on the skin, that region of skin will thicken up to protect itself. When the pressure goes on over a longer period of time, it becomes so thick that it is painful. This is similar to the process which occurs when, for example, chopping wood. Doing this, you ultimately make a callus on your hand. A similar thing takes place on the foot with pressure from the ground or pressure on a toe from the shoe. When you stop chopping wood, the thicker skin on the hands disappear. The issue in the foot is that you keep using footwear and you continue walking, so the pressure continues and the thicker skin forms into a corn and becomes painful.

Getting rid of corns is comparatively easy and a skilled podiatrist will be able to remove them. That is the simple part. The hard part is stopping them coming back. It can be one thing to remove them, however if you don't remove that cause (the greater pressures on the location), then they will just return eventually. Corns don't have roots that they grow back from. They come back since the cause is still there. Getting rid of a corn is similar to managing the symptom. They are going to return unless the reason is removed. That's where the ability of a podiatrist is necessary to find out the correct cause. A full assessment is needed of the function, shoes, foot shape and lifestyle to sort out just what it is that is causing the higher pressure. When that reason has been identified, then different treatments can be used to get rid of that pressure. This may vary from simple footwear advice to foot orthotic to surgical treatment.

Corns on the feet are due to too much pressure on that area where the corn is. To eliminate corns, all you have to do is take away that pressure that caused them. Its that easy. A corn or a callus is part of a activity that the skin goes through to protect itself. When there may be too much pressure on an area of skin, the skin thickens up to guard itself. However, if that pressure continues over a longer period of time, then the skin becomes so thick that it is painful. In the event that pressure is over a larger area of skin, then that is called a callus. If that pressure is over a smaller much more focal area of skin, then that's a corn. The causes of that increased pressure could be many different things like a hammer toe, hallux valgus or a dropped metatarsal. A good examination is usually necessary to determine just exactly what it is that causes that higher pressure and exactly how easy it can be to eliminate that higher pressure.

To get rid of corns permanently, you will have to take away the cause. An experienced podiatrist can easily remove a callus and corn by properly debriding it using a scalpel. However, that corn will return should the reason for them isn't removed. They don't really keep returning for the reason that the podiatrist did not remove it properly or because the corn has roots (they don’t). They keep coming back because the pressure which caused them is still there. That should be taken away if the corns is to be kept from coming back again. The way in which the pressure is removed is determined by what is causing the higher pressure. Perhaps it is as simple as finding a better fitting pair of footwear or it could be as complicated as requiring some surgery to take care of the toe deformity which is resulting in the pressure creating the corn.