Another vote for “What’s wrong with calluses?” I like to maintain a certain amount of callus to protect my feet. I do scrape some excess away with my fingernails when I take a long shower or bath. And if I have a bit of callus that’s too thick and creates pressure (or an incipient corn) I slice it off with a sharp knife. If there’s enough callus to be a problem, it’s easy to cut off some of it without getting close to the live skin.
But mostly I like having some callus.
My feet are not dry, and don’t crack. That would be a problem. Sometimes I get some flakiness around the ankle bone that I scrape down after soaking in hot water.
I get work calluses on my hands. Those are different. I had normal callusing on my feet until menopause. Then it went all out of whack. If I don’t scrub off the calluses on my feet with scouring pumice – not the namby pamby stuff sold in cosmetics departments, the stuff that takes scale off sinks – every single day, I get overgrowth of callus that develops deep dirty cracks and that I can peel off in sheets. Which is gross. I do not wear tight ill-fitting shoes or heels. It’s some kind of hormonal change.
Calluses are calluses. The deep, dirty cracks in skin, whether that skin is callused, or not) may be bacterial, or a virus, fungus, etc… Just to be clear, all medications have side effects. Some are more serious than others, different people react differently, and taking medical advice from the internet may not be a good thing. :d
Having said that, over the decades, I’ve had excellent results using antifungal creams (1% Clotrimazole cream, and 1% Terbinafine Hydrochloride cream) to cure, and prevent cracked skin, ridges in toe nails, and finger nails, minor/beginning ingrown toe nails, and reducing thickened/callused skin.
CVS stocks Clotrimazole cream, and Terbinafine Hydrochloride cream, plus other antifungal ointments. Tenactin, Tolnaftate, Lotrimin, and Lamisil are well known brand names.
I’m not a doctor, and haven’t spent any time at a Holiday Inn, but those are not pictures of your plain ol’ basic thickened/callused skin. I’m guessing a fungus. A fungus can prevent skin from growing normally. Personally, I would wipe a small amount of your preferred, over-the-counter, antifungal cream over the affected area, and a little beyond. One foot only. Pick your least favorite (just in case ) Don’t walk on it for at least 10 minutes. I would apply a 2nd dose approximately 48 hours later. There’s no rush. Give your skin time to help with the recovery. I continue treatments every 2 days until the problem is gone. Hope this helps.
) Don’t walk on it for at least 10 minutes. I would apply a 2nd dose approximately 48 hours later. There’s no rush. Give your skin time to help with the recovery. I continue treatments every 2 days until the problem is gone. Hope this helps.