My Problem Areas - Part 2: My Feet

In the second of the series looking at my problem areas, I'm going to talk about one of the less glamourous areas of my body - my feet.  I'm not going to include any photos of my feet, so you can breath a sigh of relief!

I have absolutely terrible feet.  I get hard skin on my heels that I can just about deal with using a foot file, but really horrible thick callouses on the pads of both my feet that I have never been able to get rid of, and which have become painful over the last couple of years.  This makes wearing heels painful (although I do persist) and makes the callouses even worse.  It also isn't pretty when I get my feet out. No matter what I do, I can't get rid of them.  You name it, I've tried it, using corn plaster after corn plaster, salicylic acid creams, scrubs, various different foot files, gel socks, Flexitol cream... basically the works, apart from those scarey looking tools with blades.  I've even tried "diy surgery" which basically involves cutting off the hard skin with nail scissors - really, don't try this, it doesn't work, it just makes it worse.

Whenever I've been for a pedicure, the therapist hasn't ever made a dent on my calloused feet, despite everytime hoping they would have some miracle.  However, the one thing I've never tried, and probably the most sensible thing, is to go to a Chiropodist.  Durh!

I've literally spent hundreds of pounds, if not thousands over the years.  If I'd been to a chiropodist earlier, I could've saved myself an absolute fortune.  I trotted (or hobbled on my poorly feet) down to my nearest chiropodist yesterday morning, and for the very reasonable sum of £29, she almost transformed my feet.  Using two blades, she removed all the dead skin on my callouses, relieving all the pain in my right foot.  She informed me, however, that the very large callous I have in the centre of the pad of my left foot is, infact, a corn.  She removed as much of this as she could, but said that I would have to look at other options to get rid of it completely.  There wasn't enough time to discuss this at the appointment, but I will definitely look into this in the future.  She also made a padded support to ease the pressure on this corn and showed me how to make one for myself.  This was much appreciated as I had a long drive and was going to be shopping after my appointment, two things that can be really paintful.

Interestingly, I don't find running painful, but walking and driving is a different matter. I'm sure that running is making my feet worse though, so now I'm doing more of it, I intend to look after my feet properly with regular foot care appointments with the chiropodist.  I'm also going to make a big effort to maintain my feet in a good state so hopefully I won't need to go to often.  If you are suffering from foot problems, even if they're relatively minor, I'd say to get yourself down to a Chiropodist pronto and prevent them getting worse.  Of course they are available on the NHS as well, if you're prepared for a bit of a wait.

What do you do to keep your feet in tip top condition?