Family Foot and Ankle Care specializes in corns and our podiatrist understands they can be annoying and sometimes painful if they aren’t treated properly. Symptoms may show up as thick hard patches of skin on your toes, flaky dry skin in the corn area, along with tenderness and mild pain. You can try to treat corns from home but if they do not cure themselves a quick trip to see Dr. Discont may be the solution. The following suggestions are home remedies using ingredients you may already have in your house.

Reasons:

• Walking barefoot and exposing your feet to hard outside elements could be harsh enough to create a corn on the bottom of your foot.
• Wearing shoes without socks and having your toes rub against the same spot in your shoe can cause them on your toes.
• Certain sports will put pressure on your feet and can cause corns after time however, padding in your shoe may help.
• More seriously than a poor fitting shoe, a bone could be putting pressure on the area from the inside out and causing the skin to rub more intensely in the shoe.

Solutions:

• Soak your foot in hot water and baking soda to soften the area (soaking both feet is not a problem and could be refreshing even if the other foot doesn’t have a corn).
• Use a pumice stone to file the corn and remove the dead skin, this may remove most of it but not all of it. 
• Baking soda and lemon juice make a good paste to apply repeatedly to the corn.
• Crushed garlic can be applied to the corn and then allow to sit overnight with a bandage to keep it in place.
• Surgery is rare but we may suggest it to correct the alignment of the bone that is causing the friction.

If you have a long-lasting corn that is being stubborn and won’t go away we may simply recommend special shoes or shoe inserts that will reduce pressure over the area where the corn has developed.  It isn’t difficult to get rid of a corn and there are many over the counter drugs that you could try but, the best way to keep it in control would be to schedule a regular foot care visit with Family Foot & Ankle Care, PC.  This is helpful for people who deal with corns often and especially if they are diabetic. Our office is conveniently located in Chandler and our doctor can be reached at 480-732-0033.