Effective Callus Treatment: A Guide to Healing Thickened Skin

A callus is an area of toughened, thickened skin that forms in response to consistent pressure. The formal name for this condition is hyperkeratosis. Healing a callus requires thinning the skin, while avoiding the shoes or action that led to its formation. Perform the treatment routine on a daily basis. Ideally, you should treat the callus shortly before bed so the remover cream has an opportunity to take effect while you sleep. It won't be rubbed off or diluted by sweat.

Things You'll Need

• Callus remover cream, drops or pads
• Hot water
• Foot bath or plastic tub
• Foot bath crystals
• Metal foot file
• Towel
• Foot cream
• Cotton socks

Show More

Instructions

• 1

  Apply callus remover to the affected area. Apply the cream or drops onto the callus and allow it to sit for the recommended amount of time. Some callus removers come in the form of a pad that must be worn for several hours. Consult the product label to determine how long the product should be left on the callus.

• 2

  Fill a foot bath or a plastic tub with hot water.

• 3

  Add some foot bath crystals to clean your feet and soften the skin. Stir the water to dissolve the crystals. Consult the product packaging to determine how much should be added to the water.

• 4

  Soak your feet for 20 minutes.

• 5

  File the callus with a metal foot file. Dip your foot and the file into the water periodically to rinse away dead skin. File until there's no more skin accumulating on the file. The dead skin will look like a white film on the surface of the file.

• 6

  Remove your feet from the foot bath and dry them with a towel.

• 7

  Apply foot cream and put on a pair of cotton socks. Repeat this process every night until the callus disappears.