Getting Rid of Your Calluses (With and Without Fish!)

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Put down that pumice stone ladies! There is a new way to tackle even the nastiest of calluses. A spa in Tokyo, the Ooedo Onsen Monogatari, is now using fish to clean the dead skin off people’s feet. Warning: this is high class pedicure treatment is not for the ticklish or faint of heart. Eager bathers simply lower their feet into a fifteen foot pool and let the fish (about two inches in length) go to work. It turns out that these fish – garra rufa, a species imported to Japan from Turkey – like to eat the dry, flaky skin of humans. Talk about a role reversal!

Those of us not so lucky to be fish food in Japan will just have to tackle our calluses at home. Start by soaking your feet in warm water with Epsom salts or scented oils in order to soften the skin on your feet. Then use a file (or pumice stone) to gently sand away the dead, dry skin. Moisturize your feet immediately after with a heavy duty moisturizer or something like petroleum jelly.

Of course, even better than treating calluses is preventing them. A callus can be any patch of dry, hardened skin on your foot that builds up over time. Calluses form in order to protect your foot. They are your body’s defense mechanism against friction or repeated rubbing. You may notice a callus forming when you feel a “hot spot” on your foot.

What causes this unnecessary friction? Most of the time it is ill-fitting shoes. Shoes that are too tight can cause seams on the shoe to dig into your foot ad irritate it. Loose shoes slide all over your foot and irritate your skin. New shoes also can cause calluses since their material has not yet softened and molded to the unique shape of your foot.

Sometimes underlying foot problems lead to the formation of calluses. Foot deformities such as bone spurs, bunions, hammertoe and claw toe can cause a bone or hard abscess to stick out abnormally, exposing the skin to extra rubbing or pressure. If you want your calluses to disappear, you may have to deal with the underlying foot deformity first.

A final word of warning: While most calluses can be easily dealt with at home, if your callus is accompanied by deep fissures of lesions, it is probably wise to see a doctor who can surgically remove your calluses for you (a process called debridement) in a safe and sanitary manner.

Jane Barron works for OddShoeFinder.com,a free online website that helps people find mismatched footwear.If you are looking for different sized shoes, or information useful to polio survivors, people with diabetes foot problems, and people with foot size differences, visit: www.oddshoefinder.com

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Topics: Home and Family | Comments Off

Tags: different sized shoes, Home and Family, mismatched feet, mismatched pairs of shoes, mismatched shoes, odd shoes, one shoe, single shoes

Article Citation
MLA Style Citation:
D, Danielle K. "Getting Rid of Your Calluses (With and Without Fish!)." Getting Rid of Your Calluses (With and Without Fish!). 22 Apr. 2009. uberarticles.com. 10 Feb 2012 <http://uberarticles.com/home-and-family/getting-rid-of-your-calluses-with-and-without-fish/>.

APA Style Citation:
D, D (2009, April 22). Getting Rid of Your Calluses (With and Without Fish!). Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://uberarticles.com/home-and-family/getting-rid-of-your-calluses-with-and-without-fish/

Chicago Style Citation:
D, Danielle K. "Getting Rid of Your Calluses (With and Without Fish!)" uberarticles.com. http://uberarticles.com/home-and-family/getting-rid-of-your-calluses-with-and-without-fish/

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