What are corns?

Corns, also referred to as clavi, are painful hypertrophy of skin, forming a skin swelling, that develops in response to excess pressure or friction on the bony prominences of the feet and toes. Foot Skin develops callus due to chronic or intermittent pressure and friction, excessive skin thickening. Abnormally grown and thicken skin cocoon formation at the centre of the callus is corn. Corns are pyramidal or eye-shaped raised dead skin nodules. Corns mostly grow in the feet and toes, they are painful upon pressure.

Cause

Corns develop due to repeated mechanical pressure rubbing between bone and skin. This mechanical stress may be caused by intrinsic or extrinsic factors . Extrinsic factors include poorly fitting footwear and heavy activity (athletics). Intrinsic factors include foot deformities (hammer toe, bunion); abnormal foot mechanics (acquired or hereditary); and peripheral neuropathy. The main cause of corns in most patients is shoes that are too tight or too loose, and a few are caused by incorrect walking posture. When women wear high heels, the center of stress will be on the toes, which greatly increases the chance of forming corns.

Symptoms

When walking or wearing shoes, patients will feel pain over the corns .

Diagnosis

The doctor will ask for a complete medical history and conduct a clinical examination to confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment

Consider the following treatments:

  • Chemical Therapy

    Applying caustic chemicals over the skin lesion causes superficial tissue necrosis. The depth and width of the chemical-induced tissue necrosis need careful control. Please consult your doctor for advice.

  • Cryotherapy

    Using liquid nitrogen spray over the skin lesion induces frostbite and subsequent superficial tissue necrosis. The depth and width of the cryotherapy-induced tissue necrosis need careful control. It usually takes several treatment sessions to cure. Please consult your doctor for advice.

  • Laser Surgical Therapy

    Using carbon dioxide laser to burn, vaporize, and destroy the warts. The depth of tissue destruction needs careful control. Please consult your doctor for advice.

  • Surgical Excision

    Experienced surgeons use a scalpel or electric knife to remove the foot corn under local anesthesia. They always inject long-acting local anesthetics into the wound and give patients oral analgesics after surgery to minimize wound pain. Patients need to have postoperative wound care until the wound heals. Patients can usually return to office work or school within 1 to 2 days, and can return to sports within 4 to 6 weeks after surgery. Please consult your doctor for advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need to treat the corn in my foot/ toe?

A: If your feel pain when walking, you should consider treatment.

Q: How do I prevent corns?
A: Avoid tight or too loose shoes. Wear thick socks. Correct underlying foot abnormality.
Q: How can I differentiate corns between warts?
A: Foot corns and foot warts can be distinguished from the site of infection, physical characteristics and the numbers.
Corns Warts
Affected area Pressure or friction point of feet and toes, e.g. in between toes, at the lateral side of little toe, plantar area of feet Heel, bottom of big toe, plantar area of forefoot
Signs
  • Thicken hard skin
  • No central black dots
  • Central raised white or yellow dead skin cocoon/swelling with thicken skin around
  • Pain upon pressure
  • Walking causes no bleeding
  • Dry rough soft surface
  • Tiny black dots all over the lesion
  • Villous spikes seen under magnifying glass
  • No pain upon pressure
  • Walking may cause minor bleeding
Number Isolated one In groups of few to dozens