Corns and calluses do not have roots that they grow back from when removed. Corns and calluses grow back after being treated because the cause of them is still present. To get rid of corns and calluses, you need to get rid of what is causing them. Medicated corn pads do not remove that cause.

A good way to help explain this is with the wood chopping analogy and what happens to your hands if you decide to chop up a lot of wood.

Corns and callus are due to too much Pressure. A callus occurs if that pressure is over a wider area and a corn is thicker deeper and smaller if the pressure is focused on a small area. When you chop a lot of wood, what happens to your hands? The skin gets thicker and forms a callus because of the increased pressure from holding the axe and chopping. This is a normal and natural process and is the way that the skin protects itself in response to the increased pressure. So it is with corns and calluses on the foot. The skin there thickens in response to the increased pressure. That pressure could come from the shoes or the ground and result from a bunion, hammer toes, a dropped metatarsal – could be any number of things.

When you stop chopping wood, the callus on the hand stops growing. If you give up chopping wood for a while, that callus will eventually go away. The same happens with corns and callus on the feet. If the cause of that higher pressure goes away, the corn and callus will go away. Unfortunately, with the feet and shoes and the causes of the higher pressure, they do not go away on their own. As the pressure continues with the feet (unlike the hands and chopping wood) the skin keeps on getting thicker and then is so thick that it becomes painful.

What this analogy means that if you want to get rid of corns and calluses on the feet, you are going to need to get rid of what is causing the higher pressure in the area of the corn and callus (ie “stop chopping wood”!). That is what is causing them to keeping growing and becoming thicker and more painful. Its certainly not because they have roots that the grow from.

Related Products for Foot Corns

FootStore.au have a range of products that can be useful for corns and callus. For example the silicone gel tube can be cut to the toe length and be used to protect toes that corns develop on.