Routine care
Hard skin and callus
Hard skin is your foot protecting itself from pressure. A little is normal. When it builds up it stops cushioning and starts hurting, and heels begin to crack. We reduce it painlessly and tell you why it is forming where it is.
Treatment Summary
How long
30 minutes
What it costs
£35
No new patient fee.
Getting in
Free parking at the Tesco next door, under a minute's walk.
What we do
Does it hurt
No. Hard skin has no feeling in it, so reducing it is painless. If a heel has cracked or there is a corn sitting underneath, that spot may be tender and we work gently around it.
A short line in a patient's own words goes here, once we have a real one to use.
Placeholder — name and town go here.
Why people come regularly
Hard skin is a pressure map of your feet.
Where the skin thickens tells us where the load is going, and that is useful. So we do not simply take it off — we look at where it is and what that says about your shoes, your walking and the shape of your foot.
Treatment Information
What happens when you come in.
01
We look at where it has built up
Hard skin forms where pressure is highest, so its pattern tells us something. Under the ball of the foot usually means load. A rim around the heel usually means dry skin being stretched. What we do next depends on which one it is.
02
We reduce it properly
The thickened layer is pared back with a sterile blade and finished with a file. It does not hurt. We deliberately leave enough to protect the foot rather than taking it back to nothing, which would only make it rebuild faster.
03
We deal with anything hiding inside it
Corns often sit inside a patch of callus and only appear once it is reduced. Cracks in the heel get cleaned up and dressed if they need it. It is all part of the same appointment.
04
We sort out the cream and the routine
Most hard skin needs a plain moisturising cream — ideally one containing urea — used daily, and honestly that is the whole routine. We will tell you what to look for, where to put it, and where not to, which is between the toes.
What you can do between appointments
Get it looked at sooner if…
Any of these change what we do and how quickly we do it. Ring us rather than waiting for a routine appointment.
Online booking opens soon
Our appointment diary is not open just yet. Leave your details and be the first to know when it opens, so you can pick a time that suits you, evenings and weekends included.
Diary opening soonOr ring 07838 652554 and we will find you a time.
Rather talk to someone?
Ring during opening hours and you will speak to a person. Home visits are arranged this way.
Coming back
How often, and who is doing it.
How often should you come?
Hard skin rebuilds because the pressure that formed it has not gone anywhere. Six to ten weeks is the usual interval, though people who are on their feet all day often prefer sooner, and people whose skin is dry rather than loaded can go longer.
Daily cream between appointments makes more difference than anything we do in the chair. It will not stop callus forming, but it keeps the skin flexible so it wears down rather than splitting.
Who is doing the cutting
Anyone can call themselves a foot health practitioner. Podiatrist and chiropodist are protected titles — only someone registered with the Health and Care Professions Council is allowed to use them.
- HCPC registered, number CH33662.
- BSc (Hons) Podiatry.
- Registration is public. You can check ours on the HCPC register .
Questions
Things people ask about hard skin.
Gentle filing on damp skin after a bath is fine for most people. Do not use anything sharp, and do not use a coarse grater — it takes too much off and the skin builds back thicker. If you have diabetes or poor circulation, leave your feet to us.
Because your foot is doing what it is meant to do. Skin thickens where it is pressed. Reducing it, then changing or cushioning the pressure, is what slows it down.
It is the same problem further along. Hard dry skin around the rim of the heel loses its give and splits under your body weight. We reduce the thickened edge, which is what pulls the crack open, and then it is cream every day to keep it closed.
Yes. Home visits are £55 for the same thirty minutes, and we bring everything with us.
Not usually, and it does not need to. A thin layer of hard skin is protective. What we are after is keeping it at the level where it cushions your foot instead of hurting it.
Still have a question?
Ask it here and we will come back to you by email, usually the same working day. If it is urgent, calling is quicker.
Online booking opens soon
Our appointment diary is not open just yet. Leave your details and be the first to know when it opens, so you can pick a time that suits you, evenings and weekends included.
Diary opening soonOr ring 07838 652554 and we will find you a time.
Rather talk to someone?
Ring during opening hours and you will speak to a person. Home visits are arranged this way.
Hard skin and callus
in Chester-le-Street
Our clinic is in Chester-le-Street, right next to Tesco, so parking is free and it is less than a minute's walk from the car park to our door. We also see people from the towns and villages around it, and visit at home across the same area.