Corns & Calluses
Corns and calluses are a build up of hard skin as a response to abnormal pressure or friction.
Calluses form to protect skin exposed to excessive pressure. Ironically, this often results in increased pressure and therefore pain. Removal of calluses is completely painless.
Corns are also a form of hard skin, but they are much more dense than calluses. In fact, as any current or previous sufferers will testify to, corns are so dense that they feel like a small pebble or shard of glass within the foot.
There are several different types of corns, all of which form by excessive direct, or indirect, pressure. As with calluses, removal of corns is completely painless – this may be hard to believe considering how much discomfort and disability they can cause.
Your podiatrist can remove corns and calluses completely, without pain, even at your first consultation. That is the easy part. The harder part of treating corns and calluses is preventing a recurrence. This involves identification of the abnormal pressure that caused the corn or callus in the first place, and modification of this pressure. This can be as simple as a small silicone toe wedge made by your podiatrist, or as comprehensive as a customised shoe inlay or orthotic.
