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Are your heels cracking open? Check this out...Sep 07 '00 Write an essay on this topic.I am a student who cannot afford any fancy, uninsured medical care. When unpleasant things happen to me, I usually try to muddle through with over-the-counter drugs and home remedies. I can’t afford anything else. So, when I experienced cracked heels this summer, I was delighted (and amazed!) to find a cheap, effective over-the-counter solution that had me walking normally within a week. SYMPTOMS (warning, a bit graphic) This summer, my feet got really dry and scaly. This doesn’t bug me as long as the condition is painless. This summer, to my dismay, it wasn’t painless. Vertical fissures developed in the thick skin of the side of my heel, and two of them cracked open. This was acutely painful! Every time I put my foot down, those two inch-long cracks would gape open and show the raw red tissue underneath. SOLUTION I went almost crazy with the pain and the reduced mobility. So I hobbled to the drug store to see what was available. To my amazement, there was a product designed especially for cracked heels – Dr. Scholl’s Cracked Heel Relief Cream. (As someone whose only skin care product is a salve for poison oak, I am always surprised and the diversity of health and skin care products out there.) I snatched it up and put it on as soon as I got into the car. Experience with the product Soothing: This cream contains a light topical analgesic which numbs the surface of the skin right away. My heel started to feel better (it felt cool then rather numb) as soon as I put the cream on. This analgesic is not found in Vaseline and things like that. Clean: The cream rubbed on clear and was not that greasy. Also, it has an antiseptic which helped keep the cracks free of infections. Effective: I put the cream on morning and night for almost a week, and my heels got consistently and steadily better. By the end of the week the cracks were fairly well healed up. Cheap: The tube of cream only cost me about $2.50, and I only used a little bit each time (an amount about the size of a pea). There is enough left in that tube for months and months of use, should that be necessary. A bit of homespun advice On top of using the cream, I also tried to keep my weight off my heel as much as possible, because every time I put weight on it the crack opened up. I did a lot of toe walking that week! This may seem obvious, but it does confound the success of the cream. It is possible that if I’d had to walk on my heel a lot it would have taken much longer than a week to heal even with the cream!  |
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