This isn't a barefoot-related
This isn't a barefoot-related cure, but Mr Deplume switched to his old Nike Frees a couple of months ago (he had started to run in them 3 years ago, btu then listened to the "Experts" and switched to big fluffy shoes). A couple of hundred miles of wearing them and his hammer toes are remarkably less hammer-y. I noticed it one day when he was standing barefoot in the kitchen, and though to myself, "gee, his toes look flatter than I remember them." (which is saying a lot: the guy had seriously ugly gnarled tree-stump-like feet for the whole time I've known him). I didn't say anything to him because I thought maybe I had just imagined a change.
Then this weekend, after having finished reading 'Born To Run', he pulled off his socks and really looked at his feet. He walked over to me and showed them to me. After talking about it, we're both pretty gobsmacked at the change. If we had known that going to a reduced shoe might make a difference in the structure of his feet, we would have taken "before" pictures.
Also, the fact that he's been training for a half marathon May 1 and has no toenail bruises is a miracle in itself. Even though the Free's aren't exactly minimal, they are a world away from the giant motion control shoes that the running store said he needed. And that made him lose a toenail every training cycle. :shock: