Corns
What are corns?
Corns are
annoying and sometimes painful thickenings that form in the skin in areas that
are being pressed on by underlying bones. They occur on parts of the feet and sometimes the fingers.
Corns can
be painful to walk on even when they are small. Common
locations
are:
- On the
sole, over the metatarsal arch (the "ball" of the foot);
- On the outside of the fifth (pinky) toe, where it rubs
against
the shoe; and
- Between the 4th and 5th toes. Unlike other corns which
are firm
and flesh-colored, corns between the toes are often whitish
and
messy; they are sometimes called "soft corns."
It's usually hard to know where finger corns come from
since they
often don't appear at sites of obvious pressure.
How can corns be prevented?
Generally
speaking, corns are a disease of
civilization. If we
didn't wear shoes, we wouldn't have them. Potential
preventive
measures therefore include:
- Moving to Tahiti to stroll on
the sand in
your bare tootsies! This is a pleasant approach, as long
as you
never have to go back home and walk in shoes again.
- For the incurably civilized, wearing comfortable shoes
is
useful. The idea is to avoid having footgear press on the
outside of
the 5th toe, or pressing the 4th and 5th toes together.
- Another approach is to pad the potentially affected
area. You
can buy many sorts of padding at the drugstore:
- Cushions to put between the toes;
- Foam or moleskin pads to put over the places where
corns form;
- Foam
pads with holes in the center (like doughnuts or bagels), which redistribute
pressure around the corn instead of
right over it;
and
- Cushioned insoles to pad your feet and alleviate
mechanical
pressure.
How can corns be treated?
You can buy many types of medicated products to
chemically pare
down the thickened, dead skin overlying the corn. These
products are
share the same active ingredient -salicylic acid.
Salicylic
acid is a keratolytic, which means it dissolves the protein (keratin) that makes up most of both your corn and
the thick
layer of dead skin which often tops it. Used once a day as
indicated
on the package directions, these products are gentle and
safe.
Salicylic acid treatments are available in different forms
including:
- Applicators
- Drops
- Pads
- Plasters
All of
these treatment will turn the top of the skin white and allow you to trim or
peel away dead tissue, making the corn
protrude
and hurt less.
It
generally is recommended that salicylic acid not be used in diabetics or when
there is poor circulation (because of concern about how normally the skin can
heal); however, in practice, salicylic acid is withheld only when there are
clear signs of ongoing inflammation
of the skin.
When should you seek professional treatment for corns?
If the corn
bothers you and doesn't respond to salicylic acid and trimming, you might
consider seeing a physician or
podiatrist who can
physically pare corns with scalpels. (It's better not to
do this
yourself, especially if you're elderly or diabetic.)
Podiatrists
also can measure and fit you with orthotic devices to
redistribute
your weight on your feet while you walk so that pressure
from the
foot bones doesn't focus on your corns. (Off-the-shelf
cushioned
insoles are one-size-fits-all and may not be effective.)
Surgery for corns is rarely necessary. There is never a
point to
cutting out a corn. The pressure that caused it to form in
the first
place will just make it come back. When necessary, surgery
for corns
involves shaving the underlying bone that is pressing on
the skin to
reduce the pressure.
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From the Doctors at MedicineNet.com  |
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Last Editorial Review: 4/15/2002
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