small pebble like sore under skin on foot

small pebble like sore under skin on foot. i treated the first one like a wart, but it wasn't one, now there is a second on coming up onthe sole of my heel. looks like a pimple or small white stone under shin but there is nothing 'in' it. nothing to drain per say. hurts to press on it...and i step in it a lot walking. what could it be?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

I cannot confirm a diagnosis without examination,but it can be calluses, foot blisters or fibromas.

A callus is an especially toughened area of skin which has become relatively thick and hard as a response to repeated contact or pressure.

When a foot is hot and sweaty, the sock sticks to the foot. The sock and foot then rub against each other and the inside of the shoe causing blisters to appear.Plantar fibromas are firm, nodular masses which occur as a single mass or in clusters on the arches of the foot.

Place protective covering or bandages over the sore to decrease friction on the skin until the sore heals. Rub sandpaper disks or pumice stone over hard thickened regions. Soak feet or hands in warm soapy water to soften calluses.Then rub with a pumice stone and apply some moisturizer. Wear shoes that fit properly and keep feet as dry as possible.Wearing wet shoes, boots and socks willaggravate the problem.So change socks regularly and use foot powder to help keep your feet dry.

If still the lumps persist,then pls go in for removal by surgical means or with keratolytic agents (medicines that break up hardened areas of skin). Shaving or cutting off the hardened area on the skin by a doctor is also helpful.

Hope it helps .Take care and pls do keep us posted in case you have any additional queries.Kind regards.

[footsore276]

I have a similar problem.  Last June I developed three sore lumps on the bottom of my right foot (one on the heel and two on the ball).  Two podiatrists have diagnosed them as chronic reoccuring calluses.  As you can imagine, I didn't like this diagnosis because they are painful and apparently they are not preventable.  I never had anything like this before in my life and today (February) I have a fourth painful lump starting.  They are small (about the size of a pea) but have not gone away even when the podiatrists dug them mostly out last summer - which by the way was not painful apparently because inside the small lump the skin is dead white callus tissue.  I am hopeful if I go in and have them dug out completely that they will NOT grow back, but I am obviously concerned.  I wear comfortable shoes, am generally healthy and can't accept that this is a chronic, painful and apparently spreading condition.  Any thoughts on what this could be besides a callus?

[Adairynne]

I have the same thing. I get them on the balls of my feet and sometimes on my thumbs and index fingers. I think I get the ones on my hands from knitting and crocheting so much. To get rid of them, so far I have tried having my doctor freeze it (he thought it was a wart the first time I got one), or just picking it out, usually with nail clippers. This time, when I tried to pick one out of my foot, I was able to expose it, and some white, powdery stuff came out! Weird!
But yeah, mine also hurt when I walk on them. It's like they start deep in my skin and slowly rise to the surface; the closer they get to the surface, the more they hurt. But they are always the same size, very small, about .2cm.

[bryanna_drsdwn]

I have quite a few of those as well. About 5 or 6 on each foot, and they're all in the same vicinity, on the callouses of the balls of my feet and big toe. They're extremely uncomfortable, not exactly painful, but they do hurt, especially when direct pressure is applied. Definitely not something I'd want to attack with clippers... It's not a wart or pimple. Doesn't match any pictures I've looked up for typical foot warts and the like. Mine aren't very big, not even the size of a pea. Look just like a pimple, definitely nothing to pop...