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One clue you can look for at home
Press the lump straight down, the way you would if you were standing on it. Then squeeze it gently from the sides, as if you were pinching it.
Corns often hurt more when pressed directly, while verrucae may be more painful when squeezed gently from the sides. This is not a definitive test, but it can provide a useful clue.
What a corn actually is
A corn is your own skin, built up in response to pressure. Skin thickens where it is repeatedly squeezed or rubbed, which is a sensible thing for it to do. If the pressure keeps landing on the same small spot, the thickening turns inwards and forms a hard cone with the point aiming down into the deeper layers. That point is what makes it feel like a stone in your shoe.
Corns are not catching, and they will not spread to your other foot or to anyone else. They come back when the pressure that caused them is still there, which is why the shoes and the shape of the foot matter as much as the corn itself.
What a verruca actually is
A verruca is a wart, caused by a virus in the top layers of the skin. It often looks slightly different from a corn, with a rougher, cauliflower-like surface, sometimes with tiny black dots, and skin lines that tend to go around it rather than straight through it.
Verrucae can spread to other parts of your own foot and to other people, particularly in warm, damp environments such as changing rooms and poolside areas. Many clear on their own eventually, though they can take a long time and can be sore in the meantime.
Why the treatments are different
A corn is a pressure problem. Reducing the hard skin can provide relief, but longer-term management involves reducing the pressure, whether through a change of footwear, padding or addressing the way the foot loads.
A verruca is caused by a viral infection. Treatment may involve reducing the surface and addressing the virus over a course of appointments, depending on the individual case.
- Hurts when pressed down, smooth and shiny on top, skin lines run through it: most likely a corn.
- Hurts when pinched, rough surface, tiny dark dots, skin lines divert around it: most likely a verruca.
- More than one appearing nearby, or one on each foot: think verruca.
- Sitting exactly under a bony point that your shoe rubs: think corn.
If you have been using corn plasters for weeks and nothing has changed, it is worth asking whether you are treating a corn at all.
What not to do
Please do not cut either of them with a blade at home, and take care when using over-the-counter acid treatments. These treatments can also damage the healthy skin surrounding the affected area. Filing gently after a bath is fine. Anything sharper is not.
If you have diabetes, reduced circulation or reduced sensation, please do not use corn plasters, acid treatments or blades at all. Come in and have it looked at instead.
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