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(08) 6110 0570admin@pdchealthhub.com.auCorns and calluses are patches of hard, thickened skin where the foot is repeatedly rubbed or loaded, so they are a sign of pressure rather than a skin disease. Our Perth podiatrists take that pressure off.
Corns and calluses (clavus or heloma for a corn, tyloma for a callus) are common skin lesions in which there is a localised area of hard, thickened skin.1 They form because repeated friction and pressure make the skin thicken to protect itself, so a tight shoe, a bony prominence or a changed walking pattern will keep producing them.1 A callus is painless, a corn is inflamed and painful, and a soft corn between two squeezed toes has damp, peeling surface skin.1 On the foot they are caused by abnormalities in bone structure, or by pressure from footwear or walking.2
The treatment that lasts is pressure relief rather than removal. That means well fitting, comfortable, flat footwear, protective plasters or cushions, soft separators between crowded toes, and in some cases custom orthotics.1 It may be helpful to see a podiatrist, who can pad and offload the spot, prescribe orthoses and advise on emollients and gentle filing.1,3 PDC podiatrists do not perform sharp debridement and refer you on where a corn's core needs cutting out. Over the counter corn removal products and tight socks or stockings should be avoided, and Healthdirect singles that out for people living with diabetes.2 Where protruding bone is the cause, surgical removal is an orthopaedic decision.1
The risk is not the hard skin itself, it is what sits under it. Diabetes can damage the nerves and blood flow in the feet and raise infection risk, and because you might not feel injuries they can become ulcers, which in severe cases can lead to amputation.2 That is why home cutting, acid corn pads and aggressive filing are a poor idea if you have reduced feeling or poor circulation. Foot checks are part of your diabetes care, and people at intermediate or high risk should be assessed by a high risk foot service.4,5 Our podiatrists measure circulation before deciding what is safe to do.
PHOTO NEEDED · Add a Hero Image to this condition in the CMS: a PDC clinician with a client, natural light, no identifiable health information on screen
Symptoms are a guide, not a diagnosis. Your GP confirms the diagnosis; our team helps you manage it day to day.
The teams and services that most often support people with this condition. They work from one shared plan, and one GP referral reaches all of them.
This page follows Australian guidance from Healthdirect for foot care and for the warning about over the counter corn removal products, and the RACGP Management of type 2 diabetes handbook with NDSS foot health guidance for diabetes risk. Australian consumer guidance on the lesions themselves is thin, so the clinical description follows DermNet, which is New Zealand guidance.
Please do not. Cutting into a corn at home can break healthy skin and start a wound, and if you have reduced feeling or poor circulation you may not notice it or heal it well. Healthdirect also advises avoiding over the counter corn removal products, especially if you have diabetes. A podiatrist can assess it, take the pressure off it with padding, toe separators, footwear changes and prescribed orthoses, and advise on emollients and gentle filing; PDC podiatrists do not perform sharp debridement, so if the core needs cutting out we refer you on.
Because the pressure is still there. Thickened skin is the body protecting a spot that is being rubbed or loaded too much, so unless the shoe, the bony prominence or the way you walk changes, it rebuilds. That is why we spend our time on footwear, padding and orthoses rather than on the skin alone.
A callus is a broader area of hard, thickened skin and is usually painless. A corn is more concentrated, has a central core and is inflamed and painful, especially when pressed straight down. A soft corn sits between two toes that are squeezed together and looks damp and peeling.
They can look similar on the sole of the foot and they are managed differently, so it is worth having it looked at rather than guessing. A podiatrist can examine it, and if the diagnosis is not clear your GP is the person to confirm it, because PDC clinicians do not diagnose. Treating a wart as a corn, or the reverse, wastes months.
It should not. Our care is padding, toe separators, footwear changes, prescribed orthoses and advice on emollients and gentle filing, worked within what your circulation and skin will tolerate, which is why we measure ankle brachial index and toe pressures first. If the skin underneath has already broken down we treat it as a wound. PDC podiatrists do not perform sharp debridement, so we refer you on if it needs more than wound care short of that.
Tell us what is going on and we will point you to the right discipline, or to more than one. Most people start with a single appointment and leave with a plan the rest of the team can see.
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