for the past couple of years i've noticed that i have foot problems. i have a lot of questions. whats the difference between a chropodist and a podiatrist? ive seen a podiatrist and he said i have hammertoes, which has caused corns on my 2nd and 5th toe on each foot. i've tried just about everything, even the medicated pads which i know now i shouldn't have used. i now try to wear open toe shoes as much as possible so that they could go away. i'm hoping they go away before my vacation to the beach in 2 weeks. i was wondering if anyone has ever had experience with corns, how long does it take them to just go away if you avoid wearing ill fitting shoes and moisturize every chance you get. its embarassing that i cant wear the shoes i want to wear with certain outfits becuase of this. i also have flat feet. i notice some difference of the corns going away, but i wish they'd go away faster!! can anyone help?

hi there!

i've use to have corns on my 2nd toes and middle toes....on the side of the baby toes, and in between toes. also had slight ones on my big toes. all this on both feet. i was always embarrassed of my feet - at least since i was 12 years old (i'm 26 now) and i did have bunions (just had surgery on left foot back on 02/27/03 and right foot on 06/05/03)

anyhow, i tried to cover up the corns by wearing closed toe shoes - so depressing for a young girl!! i spent a lot of money on dr. scholl's corn removers - it worked to reduce them, but they'd always come back. i also invested in the foot soak and pumice stones ( i'd get calluses on the side of my big toes) so all this was a ritual during high school. but then in college, i worked at nine west and one of my coworkers had corns worse than mine - and she still wore open-toe shoes. i wanted to be able to enjoy wearing open toe shoes so i startes to spend more money on dr. scholl's corn removers - i'd even wore bandages over the corn remover and silicone pads to keep them in place for the 48 hour period. i did this until my feet were decent enough to show off. wearing open toe shoes definitely help to keep the pressure off the toes - so my corns didn't come back often - and if they did, they weren't severe looking - i was able to reduce them with pumice stones instead of starting over with the dr. scholl's.

after my bunion surgeries, my feet look even better. having zero pressure on my toes for a few weeks (i wore a post op shoe that was basically open toe) was very good to my feet. the skin over the corns just rolled away when i finally bathed post-op 4 weeks (couldn't get the foot wet during that period) even the calluses on my big toes reduced significantly.

if you corns aren' t that bad, try the dr scholl's corn removers (i like the ones that come with the gel/silicone pad - not the ones that wrap around like a bandage. the padding from the gel will help reduce the pressure on your toe) it's suppose to stay on for 48 hours. then soak your feet and gently remove the skin - it'll look pastly white. i use the pumice for this - gently rubbing over the corn to remove the skin.

hope that helps you. if it doesn't get rid of all the corn, repeat. good luck!

by the way, you can see pre-op and post op pics of my feet from the bunion surgeries at photos.yahoo.com/thelittleprincess0303

you can see on my big toes that the calluses have reduced significantly (it nevered worked when i tried to just use the pumice stones) and i don't have any old pic of my horrndous corns from when i was younger - but i did have slight ones on my pre-op pics and i certainly can tell that they are even better now post-op. hope that helps. (basically my point is, if you allow yourself to wear open toe shoes for several weeks, the decrease in pressure on your toes will allow the skin tissue to rest (meaning no build-up of skin on the corns) and the skin will naturally exfoliate. pumice stones will help this go a little faster. i have to admit, i'm really glad i sucked it up and wore flip flops for several weeks during college (when i did wear the dr. scholl's, i hid my feet inside my sneakers)

thanks so much!. people said that usually they would hurt and my podiatrist asked if they did. but it never really hurt me. ive been wearing sandals for almost two months now and i notice somewhat a significance on how its come down. i use to use the medicated dr. scholls pads but my doctor said that wasnt good, that it would just do something to the tissue and it would come back worst. im in college right now and im doing fashion merchandising and marketing. so i try to keep up with the latest trends, and being in college and being around people that wear open toed shoes all the time, i envy those people that dont have so many foot problems. i tried the pumice stone and i believe that it made it go away for a little bit, but then it came back harder. i moisturize my feet often. i was going to get surgery this summer during the break from school, but it was just too much time off of work and the price was going to cost me just a bit over a grand, and since im at school i dont work that much. so its kinda hard to get the money for that. thanks a lot for your help. ive read numerous boards and articles online to try to get remedies and treatments besides surgery, and it seems im doing the right thing right now. but thanks!