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Callus Remedies

| Modified on Apr 27, 2024
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Get rid of calluses and corns with safe, natural treatments. Baking soda, coconut oil and castor oil are our top three home remedies for calluses. We don't always realize how greatly we depend on our feet until something goes wrong and our lives are disrupted. Calluses are actually intended to protect sensitive areas on our feet, but when they become painful try these effective home treatments.

What Causes Calluses?

Calluses and corns are simply thickened areas of the skin on the feet that result from pressure on sensitive areas of the skin. Several factors contribute to this pressure including the abnormalities in the anatomy of the feet, bunions, poorly fitting footwear, excessive walking or standing throughout the day, and irregularities in gait can all cause calluses to develop.

How Can I Get Rid of Calluses Naturally?

Natural remedies like baking soda, coconut oil, and castor oil will help you get rid of calluses with minimal effort. We suggest soaking and exfoliating with baking soda followed by moisturizing with coconut or castor oil.

1. Baking Soda

A naturally abrasive agent, baking soda is great for softening the skin and beginning the callus removal process. Soak your feet in a basin of warm water with 3 tablespoons of baking soda added. Use a pumice stone to exfoliate the callused area for extra benefit.

2. Coconut Oil

A natural moisturizer, coconut oil contains a number of nutrients that restore and refresh the skin.

3. Castor Oil

Likewise, castor oil helps to nourish the skin, softening callused areas and encouraging the growth of smooth, new skin.

Your feet are the body part you use most, so keeping them in good condition is important. Use these remedies to get rid of calluses, and you’ll be “back on your feet” in no time.

The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
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Apple Cider Vinegar

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Posted by Joyce (Lansdowne, Pa) on 07/23/2015

Try putting some iodine on your toes and nails.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Casy (Ocala, Florida) on 07/22/2015
 ★★★★★

I got bad blood blisters on 4 toes and calluses on the bottom of my feet from a long hike in the summer sun. I soaked my toes in epsom salt and warm water but it didn't help much. So I went to the doctor. She gave me a cream that I had an allergic reaction to.. so I turned to natural remedies.. which I usually end up doing.

I used ACV soaked in a cotton ball for each of my callused feet, taped it on overnight and in the am washed them used a pumice stone and put olive oil or coconut oil on the callused area.. healing nicely now. Unfortunately the toes are loosing the nails one at a time, very upsetting.. I am going to try ACV on cotton balls taped to the toe area overnight and hope for good results. I am beside myself, had nice toe nails for summer got pedicures now just disgusted. No more summer hikes for me.. I'll be happy when my painful feet heal and I can take long walks.

General Feedback

Posted by Judy (Denver, Colorado) on 08/10/2011

I'm wondering if anyone knows a way to lower high Hematocrit/Hemoglobin. I'm scheduled to have hysterectomy next Wednesday 17th because I have stage I endometrial cancer. Also went to kidney specialist few days after oncologist and gave him compr blood test taken at annual health fair and that shows high hema/hemo for last three years. He said to stop smoking at least two weeks prior to surgery or I could end up on a ventilator for a long time.

Had to go to my regular doc for pre-op blood tests two days later. I asked if they were going to check the H/H and she said the oncologist didn't ask for it. I told her what the kidney dr said and she said that can happen with young people (I'm 70) but high blood count might be a good thing, because I'm going to bleed during surgery. Told her I'd cut back smoking to 1/10th, but didn't see that was going to reduce high count much. She said it should go down quite a bit. (I hope this doesn't sound to eratic, but I'm getting very nervous about this surgery). I've also had to quit vit E because it thins the blood and three days later my lower legs hurt to bad I had a hard time walking.

This morning I got a call from a nurse telling me to come back for more blood work because the hematocrit is very high. They wouldn't tell me how high. In April it was 56.7. Normal is 35.0-49.0. Nine years ago I had D&C and it was high then and that dr said I could have a heart attack while under anesthesia. THAT is what's scaring me.

I am less afraid of ending up on a ventilator for awhile, or even of the cancer getting worse than I am of having a heart attack while on the table.

In the meantime I'm having second thoughts about the vit O I use. It tastes just like hydrogen peroxide. I use it because I have asthma and occasionally when air is bad I get short of breath and this alleviates it. But I'm wondering if that makes the red cell count worse or has any affect at all. Twenty years ago I was diagnosed asthmatic but I keep it under control with herbs and nutrients and this "O" is my "inhaler".

Right now I'm very confused. I'm thinking if I postpone surgery, quit smoking for good for about 1 or 2 months some of those blood calls would die off and I would be better off when I have surgery. I'm also diabetic. I've been juicing carrots and doing my best to follow some of the dietary things to eliminate cancer. My PH is about 6.4, occasionally higher but doubt that will change much because of the cancer.

I asked my doc if they could just take a pint of my blood before surgery because I've known people that live 2 miles high that have too many red cells and doctors take pint of blood every month or two and that helps to thin the blood and they go on for years without major problems. She said she'd never heard of it. Then if I bleed too much, they could give me my own blood back, instead of giving me someone elses. (Makes sense to me)

All the tests I've had, EKG, chest xray, ultrasounds, everything else is OK.

Anybody with any thoughts about this or even had this problem before surgery, I would really appreciate hearing them. Thanks

Replied by Gavin
(Manganui, Northland, New Zealand)
08/10/2011

Theirs a disease common in celtic females, it affects from 1 to 2 percent of the population, and shows up after menopause.. The usual treatment is to have about 500ml of blood drawn off a month. If they dont it can lead to a lot of complications. It might be worth checking if you too have this genetic condition. Its called Haemochromatosis. The main problem is with iron absorption.

Replied by Judy
(Denver, Co)
08/11/2011

To Bubbasmum. Thank you for your input. I have considered sending for the book. I actually tried the hydrogen peroxide last summer but it didn't really help much.

As for Matol KM, I hadn't thought of that in years. My aunt used to sell it. She had Lupus and said it helped her a lot. She actually talked me into signing up with the company to sell it but I never did anything with it. I was much younger then and didn't know anybody that would pay the price they charged for a bottle. My friends wouldn't even pay $1.50 for bulk herb for tea to help with simple sinus infection. Even if I gave them some and they admitted it worked, they preferred to go to a doctor.

Onion

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Posted by Zuleyha (Ontario, Canada) on 06/25/2014
 ★★★★★

I had a waxing injury on my lower lip that eventually turned into a callus forming on my lip. The fact that I kept picking and trying to exfoliate as vigorously as I can made matters worse. It grow to about a 5 mm callus that stayed for almost 2 years now. My sister said that onions can cure callus on the feet so maybe it would help with the lip as well. so I tried and it worked in 1 week it shrunk to 2mm and is healing beautifully.

Here is the remedy.

Peel an onion. Get a piece of the transparent membrane large enough to cover the whole callus and little bit of the surrounding skin. put the wet sticky side on the callous and make sure there is no air pockets.

It helps if you can prepare the area in advance. No harsh exfoliation. Warm water with little bit oil on a cotton ball to soften the skin. If on feet you can just soak in the water. Gently rub baking soda but be very gentle with lips. Feet may handle being little bit more vigorous. Wash and pat dry, then put on the onion membrane and leave it on as long as you can. Try whole night or if you are staying home you can just walk around with it. Replace the membrane as needed. It will dry out eventually. When not using the membrane moisturize generously and don't pick at it and prevent friction as much as possible.

Here is my theory of how this works. Since callus forms as a defense mechanism of the skin to protect itself from damage or friction harsh exfoliation or scraping the area will never work. It only makes situation worse. Covering the area with thin skin like membrane ensures the body that it no longer needs protection and that the skin is safe. I am sure chemical compound of the onion also plays a healing role but I don't have any expertise on that to explain how. In short once the skin cells are convinced that they don't need to be in the defensive mode they let the new tissue grow and let go of the callus tissue.

Well this is what I have observed in healing the callus on my lip. Now I will try this on little callus on my feet about 7mm. Will try and update with results.

Replied by Jo
(Nj)
01/25/2015

What happened when you tried this for a callus on your feet?

Replied by Jackie
(Ukraine)
03/21/2015

I would like to know the answer to that too please. Does apple cider vinegar work on callus? Sounds stupid but how to keep the onion on the foot?

Replied by Krusty
(Thessaloniki, Greece)
04/27/2024
★★★★★

I had great success with the onion method. I used this method (as described by Zuleyha) for 4 days (24 hours per day). I secured the onion membrane with a leukopor. Then at the and of the 4th day, I took a bath for an hour, the callus softened and then with great ease with my nail I removed it. I didn't even use a pumice. The surrounding tissue was not damaged. The hole in the photograph was formed. The next days I used Castor oil in order not to regenarate the callus.

Some weeks ago I used salicilic acid patches from the pharmacy, for the same callus under my foot. After two days of usage I had success at bath removing the callus with the help of a limestone. Anfortunately the next days the callus started to reform. There was also some corrusion to the surrounding tissue.

https://ibb.co/6X9mV5s

Oregano Tea Wrap

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Posted by Cindy (Illinois, Usa) on 07/26/2016 523 posts
 ★★★★★

You probably have everything you need for foot calluses - SUPER easy!

  • One multi-pack of plain, white, all-cotton socks. (alternatives below)
  • 1 pair of plain rubber flip flops, plain "Crocs" or plain rubber boots - I.e. no lining, cork or insole
  • 1 large coffee mug
  • Oregano - just plain oregano - whatever you have in your spice rack is fine, as is generic
  • boiling water
  • an eye dropper

Make yourself some oregano tea

  • 1 tsp plain old oregano
  • 1 cup of boiling water

Let the tea steep for a few minutes.

Add just a little more water and put it in the microwave for 1 minute, on high just to give it another boil with the oregano in it. It will probably boil up so when it's done, you'll want to push the oregano that has come up the sides of your mug back down into the water.

Let it steep and cool. Once cool enough, pour into a bowl of some sort and dip your socks in it.

Wring out the socks so that they're not dripping - you want them wet but not running tea all over the place.

Put the tea soaked socks on and sort of mold them around your feet and between your toes and pull them loose a little bit so that you have enough give at the toe to push the sock down between your big and second toe if you're using flip flops - which just make it so you can walk around in your soaking set socks if you need to.

Wear these for an hour or two, using the eye dropper to keep the socks soaked with the tea.

When you're done with the soak, remove your socks, rubbing your feet as you move them off and then throw them away because they're going to be gross with mushy callous gunk and the more calloused your feet are the more gunk there's going to be.

Use paper towels to wipe off the gunk and wash your feet.

There might still be some callous left, but just leave it alone and repeat the process a couple days later.

I would recommend not using lotion on your feet until the callouses are all gone.

I would also recommend not straining or filtering the tea as it will have a film of oil on the top and it may be psychological but since I was refraining from using lotion, I wanted that oil.

When you wash your feet, you may want to use paper towels instead of a wash cloth. I would not be harsh with the skin of your feet or scrape or brush or anything harsh like that after the soak, just in case there is fungus, virus or bacteria which may leave the skin vulnerable to tearing or otherwise creating a wound of some sort.

An alternative to socks is to cut up an old t-shirt into squares you can wrap your feet in. T-shirt material actually uses less tea because it doesn't soak it up as much.

Don't worry about keeping the tea warm - just use it cold.

I did this because my big toe appeared to have some fungus and because I hadn't done any foot baths or any foot pampering at ALL for several months. I was shocked when the callouses simply wiped away. It was awesome!

Replied by Cindy
(Illinois, Usa)
08/09/2016
523 posts

If you have an old pair of Birkenstocks and remove the cork sole which simply pulls out, yo're left with a shallow, rubber, foot-sized bowl - with straps - for walking around in wet socks!

Replied by Vicki
(Northville, Michigan)
09/08/2016
★☆☆☆☆

It didn't work for me. it took away te pain of my callus, and made the callus softer, but after my Foot dried, the callus got hard again. The pain stayed gone for a couple of days, then came back. My Callus is on the side of my big toe, so my shoe continues to rub. I have a wider shoe to give my toe Extra room. but just wearing the shoe is the problem. I had a blood blister because of a bunion. doctor Fixed the blister, but because of the bunion, the callus keeps coming back until I have bunion surgery.

Vitamin A

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Posted by Hisjewel (New York, America) on 07/13/2015
 ★★★★★

I am taking 25,000 IU of beta carotene 2 or three times a week for calluses. And I have had wonderful sucess.

I will try adding a day until I take it at least 5 days a week. The callous that has been hiding under the fold of my little toe came of about week the second week of taking the vitamin A in Beta Carotene form. Thanks so much.

Replied by Hisjewel
(America, New York)
08/18/2015

This is an update. I am still using the vitamin A as beta carotene 25000 IU. I still only take it two or three days a week. The callus under my little toe never grew back, thank God. However I had read in here at Earth Clinic about how to get rid of corns by taping a piece of banana hug to corn. Another method was to use duct tape. This was to be wrapped around the toe each night for at least 5 days. I used the banana peel remedy and it harded the soft painful corn enough for me to pull it off. But I guess I did not leave it on long enough, because the corn grew back. Then I used the duct tape it was also very good and the corn came right out after about a week. I said that to say, the callus remained through all of that and did not come off until I started taking the vitamin A.

Also, the callus on the side of my big toe, and a small callus on my finger soften and easily pulled off. However, I still have a bigger callus on my hand and a bigger on the bottom of one foot that still remains. I just need to get to the more days of taking the vitamin A.


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