Author: Foot Doc
Date: 5/27/2007 8:23 am PDT
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DISCLAIMER:
THE FOLLOWING IS OFFERED GRATIS AS GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY, AND, AS SUCH, MAY NOT BE APPLICABLE TO THE SPECIFIC QUESTIONER AND/OR HIS/HER PROBLEM. IT IS CLEARLY NOT BASED ON ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE AND/OR EXAMINATION OF THE QUESTIONER OR HIS/HER MEDICAL HISTORY, AND IT CAN NOT AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS DEFINITIVE MEDICAL OPINION OR ADVICE. ONLY THROUGH HANDS- ON PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH THE ACTUAL PATIENT CAN ACCURATE MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS BE ESTABLISHED AND SPECIFIC ADVICE BE GIVEN. NO DOCTOR/PATIENT RELATIONSHIP IS CREATED OR ESTABLISHED OR MAY BE INFERRED. THE QUESTIONER AND/OR READER IS INSTRUCTED TO CONSULT HIS OR HER OWN DOCTOR BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH ANY SUGGESTIONS CONTAINED HEREIN, AND TO ACT ONLY UPON HIS/HER OWN DOCTOR’S ORDERS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. BY THE READING OF MY POSTING WHICH FOLLOWS, THE READER STIPULATES AND CONFIRMS THAT HE/SHE FULLY UNDERSTANDS THIS DISCLAIMER AND HOLDS HARMLESS THIS WRITER. IF THIS IS NOT FULLY AGREEABLE TO YOU, THE READER, AND/OR YOU HAVE NOT ATTAINED THE AGE OF 18 YEARS, YOU HEREBY ARE ADMONISHED TO READ NO FURTHER.
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First of all, a corn (though it, itself, is a lay name) is a keratosis that occurs on a toe due to irritation, generally involving a bony prominence. What you may be speaking of is what is also known in lay terms as a "seed corn." These are small keratotic areas commonly found on the plantar of the foot, some of which can be quite painful. Their etiology is uncertain, but they may occur for various reasons, including some sort of mechanical irritant in the sock-liner of the shoe, or they may be what is sometimes thought to be a keratosed sweat gland (porokeratosis) or they may be the result of driving a bit of epidermis into the true skin in some sore of minor injury, or they may be of totally unknown etiology.
So, any treatment recommendations, whether self-administered or provided by a doctor must be based on an accurate diagnosis. Thus, I am unwilling to advise specific treatment for what YOU might have, but if you actually have a seed corn, self-treatment might include paddeing with mole skin or shielded with an aperture pad, or, though I do not generally advise self-administration of acids and caustics, certainly there are many commercial products available in drug stores for this purpose. I can only caution that you use them at your own risk, and that you should carefully read and believe the cautions and the contraindications on the packaging.
Even when treated by podiatrists, seed corns are not the most successfully managed of conditions. In the office, they are frequently enucleated and caustics applied. This rarely permanently resolves the problem and generally requires regular such treatment at varying intervals. They can also be excised, generally by curettage as would be a plantar wart, but again, recurrences are common.
I think that before you do anything yourself, you need a real diagnosis. So, in spite of your wanting not to have to see a podiatrist, I would definitely recommend that you do so.
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