Corns and calluses are thick, painful areas of skin on the feet which are often caused by excess pressure or friction. Although they have similarities, corns and calluses are not the same.
A callus is a build up of hard, dead skin which has formed in an area beneath or around the foot. It is pale or deep yellow in colour, and can feel lumpy because of its thickness. As callus contains no nerve endings, it may feel less sensitive when touched. Calluses typically form on the areas of feet that take the pressure when a person is walking.
A corn is also a build up of hard, dead skin, but instead of covering an area or a patch, a corn occurs in a very small, circular point on the foot. A corn actually has the shape of a cone, with the wider cone end on the surface of the foot, and the remainder of the corn deeper in the outer skin layer. Due to this, they can become extremely painful when walked on and are often described as ‘walking on a pebble’ by patients.
