★★★★★
My husband of 35 years had an extremely large bunion on his big toe.
It was so large the shape of his foot and toes were distorted and the skin so stretched and tight it looked as though it was about to split for a stretch mark.
Years ago when it became a problem, he learned his shoes were too small. Wearing looser shoes stopped the bunion growth and pain, but the size remained huge. The doctors suggested leaving it alone since the pain subsided. Still the distortion was pretty obvious and affected the way he walked. He also had huge very tough calluses.
Our friend suggested rubbing the toe and bunion area several times a day to increase circulation and blood flow to the area and encourage synovial fluid to move around the bones again. I set a timer nearby and began by placing a thick terry towel in my lap under his foot as I began rubbing his toe, bunion and lower foot along that side for 10 minutes every morning. A blister sometimes formed so I began to use a teaspoon of olive oil on his toe/bunion and massage while we talked or read. Occasionally, I would apply a little
more oil. We are usually reading during this time so the time goes quickly. The timer is helpful so you don't have to keep checking. When my fingers get tired, I use more of my palm to rub the area and then switch back to fingers again after a break. It is helpful to drink a lot of water before starting to get the body well hydrated which aids blood flow and movement of synovial fluid.
After a few days, I began rubbing up to 20 minutes and sometimes would do this twice a day, morning and evening depending on time availably.
We showed our friend again about a month later and he was shocked by the reduction in size and the looseness of the skin. I could literally pinch a half inch between my fingers by then, whereas before it was so tight, there was nothing at all because it was stretched so thin.
The increased blood flow encouraged by the massaging was moving synovial fluid and dissolving the outer layers of excess calcium of the bunion and it is literally being washed away.
We are in to the 2nd month now and it is already enough smaller he can wear a narrower shoe width again after 20 years.
We make a joke now that someday he will have such shapely feet again, that he might think about having skin reduction surgery because it really is quite similar to extreme weight loss leaving a lot of excess hanging skin. If not skin reduction surgery, then maybe a tiny little toe girdle? LOL
★★★★★
Doctors seem to believe that bunions are caused genetically or by rubbing on the shoe. I think this is bunk. Bunions are caused by deep-seated subdermal fungal/bacterial infestations in these regions. I also had very hard and unusual callous build up all around the back of my heels. And when you think about it, a foot inside a shoe wearing socks etc is a prime region for sweat build up and infections.
What's more, when I came to the Philippines and wore simple sandals and flip-flops every day (not shoes) my bunions still did not improve.
The fastest way to get rid of bunions/hard skin build-up on the feet is to first shave these regions down to the normal skin if you can and then apply a disinfectant like iodine to get rid of any discreet fungal/bacterial infections sub-dermally.
I would also not recommend topical application of lugol's iodine alone.
Only about 4%-8% of the iodine is absorbed into the skin this way. But if you use a 50-50 mix of one teaspoon of 70% DMSO(Dimethyl-sulfoxide) and one teaspoon lugol's iodine on the shaved bunion regions, you will get much faster results because of the penetrative and transdermal carrier abilities of DMSO. In other words DMSO carries much more iodine into the skin transdermally giving you faster and quicker outcomes.
DMSO is also an anti-inflammatory and will reduce the pain. Result: All bunion pathogens killed with no more bunion formation thereafter.
★★★★★
I put a little drop of olive oil (just enough to massage easily)in my hand and gently rubbed all around the big toe, bunion and down that side of my foot. I did it 10 minutes or so, twice a day, while I read or watched TV. I drank a full glass of water first like Jencia suggested to help get the synovial fluid moving. After just two days, I could already tell that the bunion was smaller!! After one week, I am thrilled with the reduction I can see - I wish I had taken a before picture. I will keep doing it - maybe after a month or so I won't have to do it every day, perhaps once a week? I really massage well around the base of the big toe because it does seem to be turning upright (as in "normal")again,instead of laying on the next toe. Thank you so much, Jencia, I never would have known to try this if you had not taken the time to write. I visit this site daily and just love it!!
Coconut Oil
★★★★★
Just over a week ago I began to limp from minor pain in my left foot. Closer inspection revealed a lump protruding at the base of my small toe about the size of a pea. I have never experienced this before but I googled ‘bunions' anyway and proceeded to tick every box for descriptions and matched every photo for the identification of a Tailor's Bunion.
Whether it really was a bunion will never be confirmed by a doctor because it's completely gone – no limp, no pain, no lump. But it sure is a strange place to get a pimple if that's all it was.
The only treatment I used on it was a 1 minute morning massage with a tiny bit of Coconut Oil and then putting a sock on immediately after, for 3 days. That was it. On the 4th day all was well again so I stopped treating it and haven't put a foot wrong since.
Cheers.
★★★★★
Finally I thought I would try my first ever castor oil pack on my bunion for an hour. It felt like the fluid was decreasing so I used a castor oil pack on my foot for the next four nights in a row for an hour. By the second night most of the pain was gone. I can't predict when the rain is coming now because I no longer feel pain in my foot days before it rains. It feels like 99 percent of the fluid is out of my foot now. I think I will try the castor oil pack on my TMJ and over my sinus areas next to see what happens.
Massage
★★★★★
I have had a relatively small bunion for some years now and have also found, despite being told that it is impossible to reduce the size of a bunion without surgery, that massage does make a noticeable difference!
Lugol's Iodine
★★★★☆
Catherine
Massage
★★★★★
If you will add a little TURMERIC powder to the oil... Like say some Castor Oil you will be thrilled at how quick the pain will stop from the Bunion! I did it and couldn't stop testifying for a month!
Turmeric
★★★★★
Massage
Massage
Peppermint Essential Oil
★★★★★
Avoid Wheat
★★★★★
Massage
★★★★★
★★★★★
I'm now able to wear my old high heel shoes, although I'm careful to take them off as soon as I get home.
The manipulation of the big toes have increased flexibility, reduced pain and decreased my bunions drastically. Sometimes I use coconut oil b/c it smells great, but most of the time I just massage while watching TV w/out oil. I also spread all my toes out a lot, now that I know the importance of stretching!
Vitamin A
★★★★★
Subject: callouses on heels (wonder what this would do with the cracked heels?)
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Get rid of calluses for good
Q: I've had very thick heel calluses for most of my adult life. I've tried everything from lotions to scraping to soaking and nothing seems to work. Is there anything that will help?
Dr. Wright: In the 1970s, I read a book about nutrition and general medicine written by a Yale professor. In that book, he observed that heavy heel calluses were a sign of long- term vitamin A deficiency. He recommended vitamin A supplementation for individuals with this problem.
Since that time, I have recommended the same treatment for my patients and have found it quite reliable, although in many cases it takes three to four months to begin to see results, and complete disappearance of the calluses can take eight months or more.
For adults, the dose is 75,000 units of vitamin A per day until the calluses are gone. Then you can decrease your dose to a "maintenance amount" of 15,000 to 25,000 units per day. (If the calluses return, the quantity can be increased once more.) In over 20 years, I've never observed any adverse effects with this treatment.
Lugol's Iodine
Massage
★★★★☆