If you’re suffering from corns, you know that they can be annoying at best and downright painful at worst. what are corns? what causes them and more importantly how to treat them, you’ve come to the right place.

Let’s start with what corns are. A corn is an area of the skin, most commonly on the toes, that becomes hard and calloused. Corns are actually a special case of a callous. Most corns are either yellow or gray in color that protrude from the toe.

What causes corns? Corns are basically caused by too much pressure against the skin. The most common cause of this pressure is from shoes that are too tight or don’t fit properly. As your shoe continues to rub against the surface of your toe, in order to absorb the punishment, the skin hardens. As the years go by, this skin, which is quite dead by now, is molded into what is called a hard corn. These can be very painful. You can also develop what are called soft corns. These corns are formed by when small bone spurs between two toes are rubbed together. This is also commonly caused by shoes that are too tight.

Finally, how do you treat your corns? The best treatment is prevention. Make sure you buy shoes that fit properly. Shoes that are too tight, especially if you are in them a lot, are more likely to cause corns than shoes that fit properly.

Another thing you can do is go barefoot as often as possible. This will give your feet a chance to rest up. Obviously, unless you’re home all the time, you can’t go without shoes all the time, but going barefoot as often as possible will help greatly.

If you’re past the point of prevention, there are a number of things you can do to treat your corns. The one thing you don’t want to do is use those corn plasters. They use acid that eats away the corn but also eats away at your flesh as well. Stay away from these.

A great natural treatment for corns is to soak them in very diluted chamomile tea. Doing this will greatly soften the skin. Don’t worry about the stain on your feet. This will come out with soap and warm water. After you’ve done this, put on any hand cream that contains at least 20% solution of urea. Make sure you do this everyday.

There are many other natural treatments for corns but this should be more than enough to get you started.