Painful corns on the foot are one of those real everyday problems that you tend to ignore until every step you take is absolutely miserable.
That little pin point hardened patch of skin might seem innocent enough until what seems like a minor annoyance turns into every step feeling like you were actually just pressing down on a pebble.
Although millions of people suffer from this condition every year, most are unaware of the root causes and what the most effective treatments are, or more importantly, how to make sure that they stay away.
Here’s everything you need to know about painful corns on the foot, what causes them, the home remedies that work and when to see a health professional.
What Causes Painful Corns On The Foot
Dead skin build-up occurs where an area suffers repetitive friction or pressure, and causes the skin to respond defensively.
This response is a build-up of dead skin in order to protect the tissue beneath.
It’s actually a very clever survival step, until the build-up becomes so thick that the hardening presses against nerve endings and causes pain.
Corns Hard versus soft
Depending on where they develop, there are two major types of corns that form, each with different symptoms.
Hard corns tend to develop on the tops or sides of toes, with a concentrated seed in the middle, which can feel akin to having a small stone packed in the skin.
Soft corns generally develop between toe spaces where the flesh remains damp, causing the skin to turn whitish and to develop a rubbery quality.
Although both types can be extremely painful, soft corns generally have an increased chance of developing infection because of the moist conditions they develop in.
Identifying the exact type of corn helps to establish the best course of treatment.
Why the pain worsens with time
An untreated corn isn’t simple hard skin that stays put.
Rather, as pressure continues (possibly from tight fitting shoes rubbing exactly the same spot each day), the corn worsens and the middle part can get deeper into the tissue.
The seed can then push against the periosteum, the skin covering the bone, which activates pain sensors in the same way as a tack.
At this stage, even the lightest touch around the area will produce a sharp stabbing pain that many will describe as similar to stepping on a fastening.
Leaving a small corn to just sit will almost always result in a period of a few weeks before it worsens and becomes quite painful.
How To Treat Painful Corns On The Foot
Most corns respond quite well to straightforward home remedies if performed attentively and with patience.
The objective is to reduce the build-up of hardened skin and gradually remove whatever is causing repetition of pressure and/or friction from the area.
Moving to aggressive removal without going back to fix the root cause usually results in corn returning quite quickly.
Filing, soaking and moisturizing
This home solution is the most popular and involves soaking the affected foot in warm water between 10-15 minutes.
This softens the skin quite considerably.
Then a pumice stone or foot file can be used to gently rub away the build-up with light, upward strokes.
It is essential not to rub so hard that the skin breaks open and during the process of smoothing away the keratin and dead cells to cover the area with a quality moisturizer with salicylic acid or urea included.
This is essential to help bring down the keratin build-up over time.
Patience also counts as to do this a couple of times per week will bring much more improvement than overdoing it with just 1 session/week.
Using over-the-counter salicylic acid preparations
The other home remedy that works well for some mild to moderate corns uses salicylic acid present in most pharmacies as a gel, pad or drop.
These preparations are designed to break down keratin in thickened skin.
Once again, they work better for people who are consistent with their use as opposed to ad hoc applications.
However, it is essential that people with circulation problems or diabetes do not use aspirin preparations, but consult their GP instead.
Ensure that you only put the acid on the corn itself without coming into contact with the unaffected areas, and always follow package instructions.
How to prevent corns from developing once you understand the main pathway
In truth, prevention beats treatment hands down when it comes to eliminating corns permanently.
Once you understand that the combination of friction and pressure is what causes these hard tissue developments, this then makes avoiding them easier.
The one thing that contributes most to choosing the wrong shoes and therefore developing corns, is footwear that simply isn’t the correct size.
Expert shoe choices
When footwear is too constricting on the toes, it will squeeze the toes and put additional pressure onto the bony fingers and prevent normal distribution of forces.
However, when shoes are too wide at the front, this also causes corns as the toes slide and scrunch themselves every time one walks.
The best shoes to buy are ones with a broad front part, freedom of movement for the toes, and enough heel support to prevent forward sliding.
Certainly, wearing high heels puts increased pressure on the toes and bony structure at the front of the foot increasing the production of corns.
Looking at investing in better fitting footwear ends many instances of painful corns in the long-term.
Protective Corn padding and foot care
Once fitted, donut type cornpads with a hole left in the middle can divert the pressure away from the calcified small area and help to relieve pressure and pain.
Similarly, toe separators hold the toes away from one another to prevent build-up and development of soft corns in between spaces.
Finally, longstanding foot health actually resides in good footwear, good hygiene and regular application of moisturizer to keep the skin soft and damage-free.
Toenails trimmed to prevent excessive pressure on adjacent toes helps too, but no matter how you dress your feet, if the shoes don’t fit; corns will still develop.
With the right footwear, even the worst inputs don’t take long to dramatically decrease.
Painful corns need not be a fact of life with the right shoe choice and a willingness to treat the area correctly.