You have a callous? A callous is hard skin found on the bottom of your foot. Don't worry, you can do something about that.
A callous on your foot is caused by friction. The cause of the friction could be one of two things. It could be friction between one of your bones and the soft tissue of your foot or friction between your footwear and your foot.
How do you get rid of the callous? You get rid of the cause of the friction. If your bone and skin are rubbing, perhaps your foot has a biomechanical fault. This can be corrected with orthotics. If there is more than one callous on your foot, though, it is less likely the orthotic will completely get rid of your problem. Too expensive you say? Let me tell you, if you have a biomechanical fault in your foot, eventually, if you live long enough, it will become a bigger problem. It will multiply into problems in other parts of your body, perhaps in your knees, hips and back. The expense of orthotics could be the price required to save you a lot of pain, in more than just your feet.
If your footwear is rubbing on your skin and causing the callous you will need to change your footwear to something that does not rub. Yes, you may need to give away your offending footwear and buy something else. Lots of people do not like this. They don't like to think about spending money on a new pair of shoes when the old ones are not worn out. Don't be a scrooge! Your feet have done a lot of work for you and they deserve to be treated right. Face the facts, your footwear does not fit you correctly. You bought the wrong shoes. Be smart, change your shoes!
If you have diabetes, and you have a callous, you have an ulcer in waiting. You cannot afford to ignore your callous. The danger, of course, is that you could start losing your foot, or part therof, to amputation(s). See your foot care nurse. After soaking your foot rub the callous with a towel, not a pumice stone. This is because the pumice stone holds bacteria, putting you at risk of infection. After rubbing it down, apply a moisturizer. Your foot care nurse can suggest some. Do this as per the directions according to the product you use. Any product with more than 20% urea is for your heels only. A moisturizer with 25% urea can break down your good skin. A product with 20% urea, or less , is safe for your whole foot.
A callous on your foot is caused by friction. The cause of the friction could be one of two things. It could be friction between one of your bones and the soft tissue of your foot or friction between your footwear and your foot.
How do you get rid of the callous? You get rid of the cause of the friction. If your bone and skin are rubbing, perhaps your foot has a biomechanical fault. This can be corrected with orthotics. If there is more than one callous on your foot, though, it is less likely the orthotic will completely get rid of your problem. Too expensive you say? Let me tell you, if you have a biomechanical fault in your foot, eventually, if you live long enough, it will become a bigger problem. It will multiply into problems in other parts of your body, perhaps in your knees, hips and back. The expense of orthotics could be the price required to save you a lot of pain, in more than just your feet.
If your footwear is rubbing on your skin and causing the callous you will need to change your footwear to something that does not rub. Yes, you may need to give away your offending footwear and buy something else. Lots of people do not like this. They don't like to think about spending money on a new pair of shoes when the old ones are not worn out. Don't be a scrooge! Your feet have done a lot of work for you and they deserve to be treated right. Face the facts, your footwear does not fit you correctly. You bought the wrong shoes. Be smart, change your shoes!
If you have diabetes, and you have a callous, you have an ulcer in waiting. You cannot afford to ignore your callous. The danger, of course, is that you could start losing your foot, or part therof, to amputation(s). See your foot care nurse. After soaking your foot rub the callous with a towel, not a pumice stone. This is because the pumice stone holds bacteria, putting you at risk of infection. After rubbing it down, apply a moisturizer. Your foot care nurse can suggest some. Do this as per the directions according to the product you use. Any product with more than 20% urea is for your heels only. A moisturizer with 25% urea can break down your good skin. A product with 20% urea, or less , is safe for your whole foot.
I had callouses on the balls of my feet, below the 2nd toes. They didn't bother me so I didn't do anything about them. Eventually, though, they advanced and seed corns developed in them. Soon it hurt to walk. I saw a foot care specialist and she pared the callouses down. I learned that orthotics would help. I didn't go right away and my callouses started to come back. So I made an appointment with a pedorthist. I discovered I had a lot of issues with my feet. I got the orthotics. Wearing orthotics for years, my callouses are very thin, have no seed corns in them, and have not advanced. I delight in my pain free feet.
Your feet have served you well. Treat them right. You can do something about your callous(es). It will cost money in the short term, but will be well worth it in the long term. Be smart, reduce friction, reduce the callous and reduce future trouble.
Feel free to comment on this blogg. Do you have any callous stories to share?
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