If you spend a lot of time wearing sandals, you're probably intimately familiar with dry, cracked heels. Open-back shoes like sandals that don't support the fat pad underneath the heel very well may cause calluses to split and crack as the fat pad expands under the pressure of your body. Other causes of cracked heels include dry skin, psoriasis, obesity and diabetes. While DermNet NZ, the website of the New Zealand Dermatological Society Inc., advises that the best treatment for cracked heels is preventing them from developing in the first place, there are a few things you can do to reduce the pain and discomfort while encouraging your heels to---pun not intended---heal.
Step 1
Scour the dried skin on your heel. Do this gently with a pumice stone to help remove some of the callus that typically cracks open in response to redistribution of the fat pad in your foot. This may be too painful to do if you have deep cracks or fissures in your heel, but those with slight, just-developing cracks should have no problem, and this will reduce the development of further cracks.
Step 2
Apply moisturizer to your heels. Moisturize your cracking heels two or three times daily. MayoClinic.com recommends applying thick moisturizers, which do the most to keep your skin hydrated, or using an oil such as baby oil right after bathing to help keep moisture in.
Step 3
Apply a gel or spray bandage. Try this on deep heel fissures to protect the skin, reduce pain and encourage faster healing. Anything else you can do to help reduce the movement of the skin around your heel, including using heel pads or cups, will also help to encourage faster healing.
Step 4
Make a doctor's appointment. Consult a podiatrist if the cracks in your heels have developed into deep fissures or if your heel cracks don't improve after a week of diligent moisturizing and protection.
Tips and Warnings
- Inspect your feet daily for signs that thin cracks are developing in your heels. The sooner you act, the smaller, less painful and quicker the cracks will be to heal.
Things You'll Need
- Pumice stone
- Thick moisturizer
- Baby oil
- Gel or spray bandage
- Heel pads or cups
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