Corns and calluses are areas of thick, dry, hard skin. The skin thickens and hardens in order to protect the underlying area from pressure, rubbing and injury. They aren’t always painful, but they can become sore, especially if they grow larger.
They're very common, and are often seen on the feet of women (due to wearing ill-fitting shoes) and of people who have bony feet or who stand a lot during the day. They can also occur as a symptom of other foot problems, such as bunions or hammer toes.
What do they look like?
Corns tend to develop on the tops and sides of toes, and they have an interior centre that can be hard or soft.
Hard corns are very common and look like small, concentrated areas of firm, hard skin, up to the size of a small pea. They're usually situated within a wider area of thickened skin or callus, and often occur over a bony structure of the foot, such as the fifth toe.
Soft corns are whitish and rubbery in texture and appear between the toes where the skin is moist from sweat or from inadequate drying.
Calluses can feel bumpy and are yellowy or pale in colour. Because the skin is thick, it can be less sensitive to touch than the surrounding skin. Calluses are often wider and larger than a corn and don’t have such a defined edge. They can appear where the skin rubs against something, such as a bone, a shoe, or on the ground. Calluses often form over the bony area just underneath the toes, which takes a lot of your weight when you're walking.
