Corns and Calluses
Corns and calluses can be extremely painful and uncomfortable, leaving you feeling like you’re walking on a pebble, step after step. Tracey is trained and qualified to safely and effectively remove corns and calluses without damaging the healthy skin around them – and it’s normally painless.
Aside from immediately treating your corns and calluses, we also investigate their cause to reduce their likelihood of returning in the future, saving you time, money and pain.
What is a callus?
A callus is an area of thickened skin that is often found on the bottom of the foot. Calluses develop as part of a natural process by which your body attempts to protect the skin when it undergoes repeated pressure and friction. By thickening in response, the risk of the friction causing a ‘break’ in the skin – and leaving your body vulnerable to infection – is minimised.
Unfortunately, once callus builds up to a certain thickness, it can become uncomfortable and even painful, placing greater pressure on the tissues, joints and bones beneath. Callus is dead skin with no nerve endings or blood supply, so removing it is typically painless – much like cutting your hair.
What is a corn?
A corn is similar to callus in that it is a thickened area of dead skin caused by pressure or friction. The difference is that corns occur at very specific points, often being very small (2mm – 20mm), and move deeper into the skin in a conical shape. This means that they are often more painful when present on a weight-bearing area (an area you walk on that comes in contact with the ground).
When corns develop between the toes, often due to the toes rubbing against one another, they can absorb excess moisture from the feet sweating and become ‘soft corns’. These corns have a whiter appearance and are softer than a traditional corn. As the skin surrounding a soft corn is more vulnerable, extra care must be taken to safely remove them.
How are corns and calluses treated?
Both corns and calluses can be simply and painlessly removed by your podiatrist in one appointment. Calluses are reduced in size, leaving a small and comfortable protective layer intact. Corns are ‘scooped out’, instantly removing the feeling of walking on a pebble and giving you a noticeable difference when your feet touch the ground.
Corn Pads
I strongly advise against using corn pads. Most corn pads contain an acid that is designed to ‘eat away’ at the corn. The problem is that corns are often very small, and corn pads have a predetermined size that may exceed the borders of the corn. Even when sizes are comparable, the acid can spread to the healthy skin surrounding the corn, and ‘eat away’ at this, causing pain, swelling and redness. This is because the acid does not differentiate between the dead skin of the corn, and the healthy surrounding skin.
I have seen many patients that have had undesirable and painful experiences with corn pads.
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Appointments by prior arrangement, available Monday to Thursday.
Please note clinic days:
Mt Gravatt: Tuesdays & Wednesdays
Annerley: Mondays & Thursdays
Mt Gravatt Clinic
Tuesdays & Wednesdays
Unit 1/11 Shire Rd
Mt Gravatt 4122
Annerley Clinic
Eyecare Qld Building
543 Ipswich Rd, Annerley 4103