Cracked Heels, Callus and Heel Fissures
Dry, cracked heels can not only be unsightly, but can often be source of pain and embarrassment. The good news is that baby smooth heels are achievable with a little help from your podiatrist. Podiatrists have the ability to safely remove the dead skin from your feet leaving them soft, smooth and ready for sandals.
What are Cracked Heels?
Cracked heels are caused by cracking or splitting of the skin. This splitting may be due to dryness or thickening of the skin (callus) that cracks and breaks under pressure.
When the skin around the heels becomes thickened or dry, it looses it's suppleness and elasticity, and can split under simple pressures such as that from walking. This can lead to unsightly, painful and even bleeding cracked heels. This can further be made worse in people who have a large fatty pad on the sole of their feet, which under pressure requires more elasticity in the skin to expand without cracking. Other causes of increased pressure includes prolonged standing, pregnancy or excess weight.
Causes
- Walking around barefooted or in footwear such as thongs, sling or open backed sandals which drys out the feet
- Long standing at work or home, especially on hard floors
- Increased weight which causes increased pressure on the heels causing callus. With increased weight the heel is also required expand more and hence can often crack more.
- Ill fitting shoes or sandals that don't support the heels from expanding sideways under pressure.
- Unhygienic circumstances or conditions as well as fungal infections/tinea
- Unhealthy, dry scaly skin that can be caused by climate, such as low humidity during dry summers or cold winters
- Deficiency of vitamins, minerals, zinc and malnutrition.
Medical conditions can also lead to drying of the skin such as:
- Diabetes where autonomic neuropathy leads to less sweating and thus less moisture
- Hypothyroidism
- Venous stasis dermatitis
- Downs syndrome
- Kidney disease or taking diuretics
- Lymphoma
- Psoriasis & Eczema
Note: in the elderly, callused heels may be a sign of increased pressure and can be a precursor to a bed sore. These cases should be assessed by a podiatrist before commencing any at home treatments.
The quickest way to baby smooth heels is to visit your podiatrist who can safely pair away the dead skin leaving you with healthy and flauntable feet. They can also provide you with information on what sort of creams are best for your skin type as well as rule out more serious reasons as to why your skin might by dry and cracking.
Simple treatments you can do at home include:
- Using a heel balm or oil based moisturiser twice daily. Using a heel balm in the morning is very important as it increases the elasticity of the skin on your heels before you get moving for the day and assists in decreasing the occurrence of cracks. If you dont like the feeling of a heel balm on your feet, just try using a small amount around the rims of the heels and on cracked areas only. This will mean less greasiness on your feet and less chance of slipping so you'll barely know its on there!
- A pumice stone can be used to reduce the thickness of the hard skin in less severe cases. In more severe cases you may need the help of a podiatrist. Podiatrist's can remove the thick layer of the heel callus fairly simply. This may be done regularly, or if you are willing to put the work in, it can give you a kick start in the right direction.
- If cracks start to bleed apply an antiseptic to prevent infection and keep clean.
- Wear closed in shoes and good socks when you can.
- Drink plenty of water to keep you and your the skin hydrated.
- In some cases wearing heel cups in your shoes may help. Heel cups made of silicon can help to keep your feet moist and stop the heel pad from expanding excessively.
- If very painful and bleeding, strapping the heel with a rigid sports tape may be used to 'hold' the cracks together while they heal.
Related articles
> Skin Conditions of the feet
> Callus
> Corns
> Diabetes and your feet
> Podiatry treatment for cracked heels
> Pedicures for cracked heels
