FOOT CARE JOURNAL 03
Corns and Calluses:
Why They Choose Where They Grow
Corns and calluses are not random. Each one turns up in a particular place for a particular reason, and once you can read the map, your feet start telling you things about the way you walk.
Around the toes, three spots come up again and again. The outer edge of the little toe takes the pressure of high heels and pointed toes.
The toe knuckles suffer when shoes don’t fit, whether they are too small and squeeze, or too large, so the toes grip to hold on. And the space between the toes gets crowded by a narrow toe box or the wrong size.
Further back, the stories change. Here is the whole map at a glance.
Where they tend to appear
- Outer edge of the little toe: high heels, pointed toes
- Toe knuckles: shoes that are too small, or too large
- Between the toes: a narrow toe box, a poor fit
- Under the base of the little toe: a walk that wears down the outer heel of your shoes; bowlegs, out-turned feet, bunions
- Ball of the foot, under the big and middle toes: high heels, which shift weight forward
- Side of the big toe: a habit of rolling your weight toward the big toe; bowlegs, out-turned feet, bunions
- Around the heel: it carries much of your weight, and dryness thickens the skin further
Read your soles
Turn over a pair of shoes you wear often. Where the sole has worn down is a quiet record of how you walk. Wear along the outer edge of the heel, for example, often goes hand in hand with calluses under the little toe.
Put the list side by side and a pattern appears. Shoes that don’t quite fit, or a habit in the way you walk, keep pressing on the same few places.
If one of these spots sounds familiar, it may be your feet sending a small signal.
If a corn or callus is very painful, or if you have diabetes or circulation concerns, please see a doctor or podiatrist before treating it yourself.
If a spot sounds familiar, it’s a good moment for a professional eye.
At Colors Hiroo Nail Lounge, foot care is a treatment of its own, never an afterthought. Over the years, we have kept refining how we care for callused skin and heels.
It can be done in the same visit as your gel manicure or pedicure: an unhurried hour in a modern Japanese house, two minutes’ walk from Hiroo Station.
Reservations are made through Hot Pepper Beauty, an external Japanese booking site. English-language plan details are listed further down that page; please scroll down to find them.
Colors Hiroo Nail Lounge
5-3-8 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku,
Tokyo
Mon–Fri 10:00–21:00
Sat, Sun & Holidays 11:00–20:00