Cracked Heels

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TonyS

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I was surprised and pleased to read the post on cracked finger ends as I also suffer occasionally.
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/2118622/an/0/page/9#2118622
Is it the same mechanism for cracked heels? Dehydration, leaving feet wet too long, cold weather etc and do the same remedies work. I am thinking particularly of superglue as it is difficult to keep plasters in place. Any help or experience would be appreciated.
 
We used to use Stockholm Tar on our horses cracked heels when I was a lad. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Not sure if you can still get it, but very smelly and would make your feet black.
 
This is a different problem usually. I found the solution was to rub away the dry skin on heels using an abrasive block. I had always thought that having hard, tough skin on the soles of the feet was good until I started doing loads of long distance walking. It's much better to keep them soft and supple and this means getting rid of the hard skin that splits and cracks.

Rasp away over a few days, wack on some hand cream and you should be OK.
Morgan
 
SWMBO swears by vitamin E oil - she spreads in on the cracked area once per day. Apparently the pain's gone within an hour of the first application and the crack's healed within a couple days.
 
Exfoliate. Remove dry skin after softening in the bath/shower/footspa with a Scholl Foot File or Rough Skin Removing Cream

Moisturise. Scholl Deep Moisturising Cream. Cracked Heel Repair Cream for cracked heels.

Avoid repetition by moisturising and removing hard dry skin as necessary.

http://www.schollfootcare.co.uk/
 
My wife once gave me something called austalian foot balm. I believe the active ingredient was "urea" I used it a few times but do not have the patience or memory to apply every day so cant really tell you if it made a difference.

on the subject of cracking hands though I used to suffer quite a lot and found that neutrogena hand cream was very effective . It was developed for norwegien deep sea fishermen " or so it said on the tube" I expect this would also work on the feet.
 
This is the bane of my life. Up until now I've been cutting off the hard dry skin and treating the deep fissure with Germolene 'New Skin' for an INSTANT cure (well, it takes about 2 or 3 minutes to dry).
However the Scholl cracked heel cream sounds interesting for a more long-term solution - must give it a go ...
 
yep, the urea based cream works wonders....
(but don't think too hard about what the best natural source for urea is: it will induce you into indulging in a rather sinister looking foot bath... I am not taking the p*ss you know!)
 
[ QUOTE ]
Exfoliate. Remove dry skin after softening in the bath/shower/footspa with a Scholl Foot File or Rough Skin Removing Cream

Moisturise. Scholl Deep Moisturising Cream. Cracked Heel Repair Cream for cracked heels.

Avoid repetition by moisturising and removing hard dry skin as necessary.

http://www.schollfootcare.co.uk/

[/ QUOTE ]

I would agree except for the comment about removing after bath/shower etc. . In my experience this needs to be done BEFORE bathing when the dry skin is actually dry and brittle - abrasion doesn't work with damp skin.
 
I suffer from this usually in the summer in hot climes and when I am wearing sandals. It can be very painful and prevent you from walking far. I find treating with CCS cracked heel cream vary effective - its best to start as soon as it appears - twice a day. You don't need to use much but you do need to rub it well in - don't just smear it on the surface.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Sudafed!

Works on hard skin, bum rash

[/ QUOTE ]

Its a decongestant too, I was prescribed it by my doctor for sinus trouble.
 
Thanks for all the useful replies. I didn't think it was a suitable topic for this forum but was surprised by the response for cracked finger tips. In fact this morning only one post has had more interest! Perhaps YBW should start a Medical Forum. I will try the easiest first - perhaps viatamin E oil (Boots?). My experience is a file to remove excess skin and using plasters which sometimes stay on for a few days. Germolene "New Skin" sounds good but nobody recommends Superglue! If neither of those work I will ask at Boots if they have "high urea and lactate cream" but it doesn't sound like a quick solution.
 
[ QUOTE ]
abrasion doesn't work with damp skin.

[/ QUOTE ] Interesting. I have never tried it dry. When necessary I use a foot file after a shower. Seems to work OK for me.
 
I've suffered from cracked heels and big toes as well as "thumb hacks". Solution for me has been to rub in "Henley's Prop Protector" which is in fact "lanolin" - that multi purpose sheep by product useful as a barrier cream for hands and between dissimilar metals and so on...
 
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