Calluses and Corns

There are spots on your feet that have changed over time. The skin there is no longer soft and yielding — it has hardened. Yellowish, thickened, sometimes with a painful core in the centre. A callus stretches across the sole or the ball of the foot. A corn sits between the toes or on a joint and stings with every step. You may have already used files, stuck on plasters, tried special insoles. And still it keeps coming back.

Medically, the matter is quickly explained. Where skin is pressed and rubbed over a prolonged period, the body builds additional layers of horn. It protects itself. The skin armors itself because it has been overloaded too often. This is a sensible reaction — so sensible that it has even lent its name to labour: calloused hands. The body builds material where pressure lies.