Cracked heels and general troll feet...

[parmavioletmartini]

I need all your recommendations for nice feet.
I have the worst cracked painful heels, it seems no matter how often I exfoliate or use a ped egg they are thick, dry and crusty. The cracks are so painful and deep, the rest of me is not too bad just hedious troll feet!

Flexitol. Amazing stuff, heals cracks within days.

Yes Flexitol. There's a platinum version now as well.

Def Flexitol, the thick balm though not the cream. Use it regularly, every night, for it to work.

If they are really bad, and you can afford it, go to a podiatrist. One visit will get rid of all the dead skin then you can tackle the cracks more effectively with the Flexitol. I go every year about this time, just before my sandals come out of storage and I have to start showing my feet to the world!

Ped egg basically shredded the skin and made it worse. I have found the only thing that really gets rid of the hard skin is one of the battery operated gadgets. They are very reasonably priced now and i got one in Aldi a while ago for about a tenner. Get your cracked heels sorted first then try one of those. Also found that Margaret Dabbs cracked heel cream (available in Marks') is very good at keeping heels soft.

I've never heard of Flexitol, pharmacy job?
Was thinking podiatrist but not a lot of spare time with baby DD. Is it worth it?

Boots and Superdrug sell Flexitol, it's easily available.

I think a podiatrist visit is worth it, yes if your feet are really bad. It costs me about £30 for a half hour appointment, but I only go the once every year. They soften your skin and use a scalpel to scrape all the dead skin off (completely painless!), and they'll sort out any corns and clip your toenails. Be aware though, it's not a beauty treatment, they don't do massages or pedicures! Its more clinical, but your feet will feel amazing nonetheless. For me the money is worth it than faffing about with some gadget myself.

In your shoes (!) I would be trying to work out why your heels are so cracked, as well as trying new cremes to get it sorted. What type if shoes are you wearing?

I've been wondering the same they have always been like this. On and off, I've always had very thick hard skin on my feet and they have been cracked on and off for years now.
At the moment mostly trainers with cotton socks. Socks or slippers when at home.

Flexitol heel balm. The one with 50% urea.

I had deep cracks for years and thought I had tried everything - a podiatrist recommended this. It stings like crazy if the splits are deep but the cracks healed up in under a week and never came back. I haven't even used up the tube as never needed to continue it.

Twas nothing short of miraculous.

Trainers etc sound perfect. Maybe it would be worth having an appointment with a chiropodist as suggested by PP, rub creme into them before you put your socks on every morning, keep wearing the comfortable shoes and see how it goes. All the best.

Hulder Yes it was the podiatrist who recommended Flexitol to me too, the thicker one not the cream.

I would def see a podiatrist - they are a font of knowledge and as well as getting you stripped back they may be able to offer advice as to why they get this way

I suffer from very hard skin on feet too.
The cracks are extremely painful and the main thing I found to sort it out was L'Occitane Foot Cream.
Wonderful stuff in my opinion.

The best thing I have found is a hard skin and corn removing knife from Lloyds Chemists. It is basically a razor blade with a handle. Only thing capable of slicing off all the dead skin and once you have done that it is pretty easy to keep softening your feet with cream and other, less drastic, means.

I have been using the Body Shop Hemp hand cream on my feet and find it works well, also use an exfoliater on my feet in the bath, which doesn't sound as harsh as the pedi egg. I think it's just consistency, if I miss a day or don't look after my feet they go dry quite quickly.

Before you rush to try complicated things, this was recommended by a nurse when DSs feet were really sore. Soak in warm soapy water. Rub firmly with a towel- all that white spongy skin will come off. Use moisturiser inside socks. Do that every day at first. Eventually you can cut back and just give them a serious rub after your shower.

It's amazing how well it works. You can do it watching the telly...

I use this stuff called babyfoot. From amazon. You pop your feet in these little bags full of nice smelling stuff, leave for half an hour and wash off.

Nothing happens.

Then, a week later, your feet PEEL like mad. Even the heels. My feet looked and felt literally like babies feet. I use this about once every six weeks.

A pair of these with foot cream liberally applied underneath. I like this

Flexitol is great for hard core feet revival.

For general maintenance, put lots and lots of thick moisturiser on your feet - as in, rub it in well, then add some more so it is sitting on your skin. Put a freezer bag over each foot, then socks to keep them on. Beware that your feet will be very slippery when you walk!

Sleep like this overnight. In the morning carefully shower it all off, rub gently with a clean towel, and hey presto soft feet

Great advice here!

I'm a podiatrist, NHS though but do private as well, it's worth one visit to get you started and then if you do a bit everyday filing, ped egging and as the others said flexitol within a month your heels will be great.

I periodically (problems twice a year) give mine a footner peel, then keep on top of them with flexitol. It has the extra effect of stopping my corns from building up to painful levels.

I use one of those corn and callous remover blades too. It is great but I do occasionally go a bit deep which is not fun and end up bleeding!

Then I get DP to massage my feet with Flexitol 2/3 times a week, which has really helped, as I also suffer from Plantar Fasciitis. It's much worse when my thyroid treatment isn't optimal and I have dry skin elsewhere too. I have fond memories of being abroad at a relative's house and asking to borrow some sandpaper for my feet as they were cracked and bleeding and I needed to minimise the cracks! Ouch.

Tried Footners (bit like the Babyfoot mentioned by PP. It was pretty good, but still a bit hard at the edge of the heels.

I use Flexitol and my heels are still cracked and dry.

You need to get some dead skin off before the cream goes on. After lots of years and different methods, rubbing the soggy soaked feet with a towel has been the best. All the white spongy skin comes off.