Greetings, salaam, shalom and namaste to you and all. I trust you’re safe, well and in good spirits.
Today I would like to speak about these, often misunderstood and common, foot conditions.
Skin has two layers. The top dead layer is called the Epidermis. The living layer underneath which contains all the nerves, blood vessels, glands and collagen is called the Dermis. The epidermis grows and sheds continuously renewing itself every 14 days. Trauma from pressure and friction, will trigger a protective response and cause the epidermis to grow faster and shed less. The result is that dead skin builds up which we call, ‘callous’ or ‘hard skin’. If allowed to continue, the dead skin will get thicker and more compacted and dense centres may form, which we call, corns.
An exception to this is a ‘seed corn’ which is unrelated to pressure or friction.
Let’s now explore your options. There are several products on the market and the ones to avoid are plasters that contain chemicals. These may help in the short term, but the acids they contain damage the skin elasticity and may even cause serious chemical burns. Manual and electric files have become popular. Whilst in the short term, they help to remove dead skin, in the long term, they make it worse because the friction and heat cause the skin to grow even faster.
The only way to provide a long term solution is to identify the underlying cause of the pressure and deal with it either through appropriate footwear or by addressing the mechanics if the condition is related to misshapen toes or poor foot and ankle posture.
Thanks for reading and on behalf of everyone at the Foot Comfort Centre we hope you have a great day.