Hi everyone. Hope you can answer my query. Please don't laugh....

I recently started experiencing a small pain on the sole of my left foot just underneath the toes. I never thought much at first as expected it to go away.

But the pain got worse and now walking on it is very painful. I do a lot of walking anyway so maybe that is what caused it.

I have had a look and it's like this lump or something. As you can imagine it's painful to walk on.

I don't think it's anything serious but I reckoned someone here would at least be able to explain what it is.

I have a feeling you have callouses on the bottom of your foot. i've had them since i was sixteen. left foot alot worse than right. i see a podiatrist every 3-4 months to shave them. they hurt horribly. can't even put your foot down and then you tend to flex your foot and the muscle pain sets in. i know it sounds simple but i have crawled in the dr.s office just to walk out dancing after he removes all the hard, dead skin. mine sit right on the tips of bones so it's like walking barefoot on stones. for some reason the ones on the ball of the foot hurt the most.

I have had the same thing as ICC but mine were due to the deformity caused by the bunions and the hammertoes; the callouses came about from the way the foot was hitting the ground with every step. I would have to have mine shaved every 5 to 6 weeks. You could try putting on bunion pads (the ones with the hole in the center; the hole goes over where the callous is); that would give me some relief between shaving visits. The thing with foot problems is that they ordinarily tend to get worse rather than better with time, so maybe the obvious thing to do is see a podiatrist and get his/her take on it.

Sounds like it may be a plantar wart. These are characterized by a bump with a sort of rough surface that interrupts your footprint pattern. A lot of the time, you'll see little black dots in the bump, too. You should be able to find some pictures easily online.