My battle with heel fissures.

Alyssa Smart

How I won my battle with heel fissures.

I’m an office professional who spends a lot of time on my feet. I usually wear open-backed shoes to work and it all started one dreadful afternoon. One day I walked over to the printer, and I got a sharp pain in the heel of my right foot. I get tired feet, so I didn’t think too much of the pain.

Throughout the day, it worsened. I ended up taking my shoes off and found I cut my heel. Cut? How did I do that? I didn’t remember cutting my foot. But there it was, a deep looking cut on the heel of my foot.

When I got home that evening, I examined it more. It was dry looking and had bled a tiny bit. I thought maybe some lotion would help. I chalked it up to my work environment and how much I was on my feet. When I put the lotion on, it stung!

What was it?

I checked the Mayo Clinic online before immediately calling my physician. Upon going on one of their pages I found out exactly what I was suffering from; ‘heel fissures’. This was something I hadn’t experienced before.

What are heel fissures?

Heel fissures are also called cracked heels. Mayo Clinic described the condition as dry, cracking skin at the base of the heel. A thick callus can accompany it. Sometimes, it can get intense, causing bleeding and even infection in serious cases. How could I have not known? I guess the soreness in my feet I’d been having was something I didn’t take seriously enough. I never thought to check my feet. But now that I have, where do I go from here?

Who gets heel fissures?

I called my doctor to be sure. At the physician’s office, I learned that heel fissures can be a common problem. It can affect anyone, but usually affects women in their late 40’s to mid 50’s. While it didn’t directly apply me, I learned it also affects people with diabetes. It can also affect people with certain skin conditions.

How do you treat heel fissures?

Some people with severely cracked heels usually need ointments with steroids, which you can get from your doctor. When you follow a foot care routine, it can be easy to fix the damage that cracked heels cause. There are many specialty lotions that you can buy to help with the healing.

Urea is an excellent lotion for cracked heels. There is an in-depth article on this website to help you pick a cream with urea.

I put a thick cotton sock on to hold in the moisture. I did this twice a day for a week and it improved. It helped but wasn’t a permanent solution

Can you use home remedies to treat cracked heels or heel fissures?

Mine had not progressed too much yet, so there were various home treatments. I ended up also trying foot baths to soften up the dried thick skin and then patting dry and used a homemade coconut foot scrub. I then added vitamin e oil mixture to help heal the skin.

I also invested in some gel heel sleeves to help with the cracks.  I think this was key to finding my relief.

Since then, I got the bounce back in my step. This condition is not a one treatment solution. I keep up with my lotion and sock routine since I am always on my feet. I didn’t let the condition define me or my lifestyle!

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