Pedors Shoes and Corns and Calluses
What are corns?
Also known as clavus, heloma durum, or hard corn, a corn defines a discrete hard area on the skin of toes commonly caused by an ill fitting shoe, a prominent underlying bone or a badly positioned digital joint. Corns are accumulations of the skins epidermis which are created by the body to protect the underlying structures of the foot from excessive stresses. Corns are usually found on a toe.
What causes corns?
The area where corns form is usually under some form of compression, often from a shoe, as this skin cannot shed as the surrounding epidermis does and so it compacts and becomes adherent in the process. So what was initially a protective process for thickening the skin and underlying tissue becomes painful if the cause of the focal stress (which could be the shoe and or the underlying bone) is not relieved. The National Health Interview Survey has 68% of predominantly women had corns or calluses.
Corn treatment
Removing the pressure that causes the pain is the first step in treating corns. There are various shoe modifications that can be made along with accommodative foot orthoses. If pain persists, consult with your local Podiatrist.
What are calluses?
Also known as tyloma, callosity, keratoma, plantar kerotoma, intractable plantar kerotoma, plantar hyperkeratosis. Calluses are discreet hard areas of the skin on the sole of the foot. Commonly caused by an ill fitting shoe, a prominent metatarsal bone or a mechanical dysfunction of the foot where there is increased pressure at a specific area on the sole of the foot. Calluses are found on the bottom of the foot.
What causes calluses?
Calluses are formed much in the same way as corns where a prolonged compression of the skin forcing the skin to compact and become adherent. One other consideration with calluses is that in some instances the plantar fat pad underneath the metatarsal heads thins leaving little padding and subjecting the skin under those metatarsal heads to even higher focal stresses.
Callus treatment
Off-loading a plantar surface pressure point can be achieved by distributing weight away from the affected area or by added extra protecting or padding to the area. This could be achieved with either a moldable accommodative insert or with an orthotic device with additional padding to cover the metatarsal heads.