Heel cracks can be a cosmetic problem or painful and even life-threatening due to infections. Causes include weight, open-back shoes, and dry skin. Treatment involves reducing calluses and moisturizing the skin. People may need to take precautions to avoid heel cracks in the future.
Heel cracks are cracks in the dry skin around the back of a person’s heel. They usually form in a vertical line and often there will be more than one. In most cases, heel fissures can be just a cosmetic problem, but they can also be painful and, for some people, could even become life threatening due to infections. A variety of conditions and factors can work together to increase the chances of developing heel cracks, including weight, the type of shoes a person wears, and various conditions that cause dry skin. Treatment can be a long process, and for some people, heel fissures are a recurring problem.
One of the main causes of heel cracks is wearing shoes with an open back, such as sandals or some types of high heels. These shoes allow the leather to swell outward, which can stress the fabric and cause cracks. This is especially problematic when people also have particularly dry skin and thick calluses on the backs of their feet. Heavy people are also generally at greater risk because increasing body weight causes the flesh to swell further in the back of the foot, and these individuals generally put more stress on their feet when walking. Any person who has a condition that leads to less sweating is also at a higher risk of developing heel cracks.
Heel cracking usually occurs in the calluses of the feet. Some level of callus is normal. Calluses occur naturally in response to the abrasive action against the skin and harden the tender areas, easing them to pain. The feet are a prime area for this because they have to support a person’s weight and have to put up with a lot of friction. When calluses get too thick and too dry, heel cracks become a possibility.
For many people, cracked heels are simply something they put up with. The fact that they occur within calluses means that most of them are not particularly painful and sometimes are not particularly cosmetically noticeable. For other people, they can be a serious cosmetic problem and can even become very painful if they go deep enough to damage non-callosal tissue.
Individuals with weak immune systems and those whose bodies don’t heal properly may have significantly more problems with cracked heels. For example, some people can get serious infections that require amputation of limbs. Bacteria tend to get trapped inside the cracks in the heel and this makes infection likely.
Once fissures are diagnosed, doctors usually take steps to reduce the calluses and possibly moisturize the skin around the area. People are also usually advised to use footwear that better supports the skin on the outside of the heel. After people first develop heel fissures, they may need to take special precautions to avoid them for the rest of their lives.
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