skin cracks on bottom of feet

Jim Zychowski

Barefooters
Feb 16, 2014
2
1
3
75
I have been running barefoot year round for the past eight years without any major problems, but for the past few months I keep getting cracks in my skin on the bottoms of my feet ie by my heal and what would be the behind the ball of my little toe. I've tried various creams and coconut oil but it heals and re-cracks. Someone suggested Bagbalm but I have not tried that yet. Any thoughts on how I can heal this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
Hey Jim, I think the general consensus is to go for a heel cream that contains urea.

(recycled joke warning)

and if you can't find anything, I can suggest a cheap substitute. :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: migangelo
I keep getting cracks in my skin on the bottoms of my feet behind the ball of my little toe.

I also keep getting a crack at the same spot (behind the ball of my little toe). I always just cut the skin around it and quickly superglue it before it gets a chance to crack deeper. Has been working well for me so far.
Cracks 01.jpg
 
I got very bad cracks in a few places last summer, but mostly around the base of my big toes and the ball of the foot near there. It is a dry climate here in Idaho. I had to put bandaids and vaseline on them, alternating this with a few hours of air, but after a couple of night with bandaids, I switched to putting olive oil on them every night before bed. I still had to wear the bandaids a couple more days for a few hours, but now just doing the olive oil nightly keeps it well under control. I don't cover them with anything to keep the olive oil on. Now, the soles are sans cracks most of the time. If they just begin to crack, it doesn't go far and I haven't had pain or open wounds from the cracking. I have accidentally cut them up from debris a couple of times. :p But I keep up with the olive oil then, too, and it seems to speed the healing along.
 
I have had some dry cracking skin a few times over the years...I think its callus forming making the skin brittle...maybe from too much of the same kind of running....whatever lead to the calluses sets up the cracking. I would try changing up the running surfaces, speeds, footwear etc. to help make it go away...basically add more variety into your running.
 
This problem in the skin happens to everyone? or just to those who run completely BF? Or just to a few?
There are different kinds of skin cracking:
- skin cracks due to debris: this happens generally only to those who run or live completely barefoot.
-skin cracks in soft skin, such as beneath the toe joints, which I think are mainly due to some kind of mycosis. This can happen to everyone, BF or not; the cause for mycosis can be shoes and/or alimentation (somebody with lots of candida albicans in the intestines is likely to also develop mycosis on the feet)
-skin cracks in hard skin or calluses can also happen to everyone. Creams or oils to soften up can help. Hard skin or calluses have a cause, which one could also try to eliminate: in my experience, hard skin develops in either one of the three following circumstances (or all of them combined):
1) wearing everyday shoes in winter, combined with heel striking whilst walking: the more I heel strike, the more calluses I develop on my heels.
2) unhealthy food which causes an imbalance towards acidity and accumulation of toxins in the body.
3) bad running form when running skin to ground.
 
I have been having problems with this this year... have had huge fissures. Due to a wet winter / spring and a roasting hot summer. The only way I have found of dealing with them is to cut off the excess skin around them and to soak my feet in olive oil overnight (wearing socks which is alien to me).

It can be a pain in the arse because every little twig, holly leaf and sharp stone seems to find the chink in my armour.

I have tried urea and superglue but have decided the only way to deal with it is to keep on trying on and man up.

If anyone has a magical cure I would be really glad to hear of it.
 
I have been having problems with this this year... have had huge fissures. Due to a wet winter / spring and a roasting hot summer. The only way I have found of dealing with them is to cut off the excess skin around them and to soak my feet in olive oil overnight (wearing socks which is alien to me).

It can be a pain in the arse because every little twig, holly leaf and sharp stone seems to find the chink in my armour.

I have tried urea and superglue but have decided the only way to deal with it is to keep on trying on and man up.

If anyone has a magical cure I would be really glad to hear of it.
How about Aquaphor (like Vaseline but with medicine) and socks instead of the olive oil? It's thicker, so it will stay on better.
 
I have the same problem. I think Vaseline or aquaphor with socks help if done every night, but I hate socks. Just having then on wakes me at night. Curiously, running (barefoot of course) on concrete seems to dry my feet out more than when I run on blacktop.
 
Tried Aquaphor and it worked wonders on the small cracks and fissures. However I seem to be developing the daddy of all fissures on my right heel. Its full thickness and runs all the way from one side of the heel to the other. The skin is actually quite soft and not calloused. I am starting to get seriously worried that I will have to resort to shoes if this carries on. As it is it's only mildly sore but as it doesn't see to be improving I fear it will only get worse.

04cd1dd883f80180fd61551bb3a71794.jpg
 
My heels tend to develop fissures towards the end of winter.

Someone at BRS turned me on to Flexitol Heel Balm. This seems to help. I also use this:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00756HQNQ/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

to scape away dead skin / old callus around the fissures, and some kind of pumice stone for more fine-grained polishing.

I think next winter I will try to be more preventative and use some kind of lotion or oil before the fissures occur.
 
  • Like
Reactions: XX Dogfather
My heels tend to develop fissures towards the end of winter.

Someone at BRS turned me on to Flexitol Heel Balm. This seems to help. I also use this:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00756HQNQ/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

to scape away dead skin / old callus around the fissures, and some kind of pumice stone for more fine-grained polishing.

I think next winter I will try to be more preventative and use some kind of lotion or oil before the fissures occur.



Thanks.. Just been on Amazon and ordered both.. Plus as a bonus the file costs less if you order a fetching pink one :)
 
How about Aquaphor (like Vaseline but with medicine) and socks instead of the olive oil? It's thicker, so it will stay on better.
Socks in the summer? Sorry TJ, but I would rather be boiled in olive oil. I just live with my cracked skin on my feet, it only really bothers me in winter, when I have to wear socks.
 
Stay hydrated.
Apply Castor oil over night, wear socks to keep the bed linen clean. Repeat for several weeks.
Castor oil has a low molecular weight and can be absorbed easily into the skin, it also has anti microbial and anti inflammatory properties.
Also great for thickening hair if you want to get mistaken for bigfoot whilst running through the forest, i use it on my beard daily for just such a purpose.;)