Treating cracked heels is no laughing matter. That hard, cracked skin can incite terrible heel pain, and be fairly difficult to treat with just lotions. If you are on your feet all day in wet socks in particular, your skin can become damaged and crack as it dries, leaving you with deep gouges in your poor heels that it seems no amount of moisturization will heal. Here is how I treated my fiance’s severely cracked heels in just a weeks’ time.
First of all, realize lotions won’t work. Regular lotions can’t penetrate that poor, dry skin, and will only give minimal relief. Even after showering or bathing, lotion isn’t strong enough to penetrate the deep cracks in the heels and allow the pain to subside and help the skin heal.
Aloe Vera works, and works wonderfully. As a base treatment for cracked heels, Aloe Vera should be first in line to help the skin and cracks heal from the inside-out. After showering or bathing, apply liberally Aloe Vera (the purer the better) to the heels, rubbing it in vigorously to penetrate the barely softened skin and get into those cracks that are so painful. As a natural anti-inflammatory and antibacterial agent, as well as being a skin rejuvenator, Aloe Vera as your first attack against cracked heels is a great start.
Allow the Aloe Vera to dry successfully, then whip out the Bag Balm or the Vick’s Vapo-rub to apply a thick, soothing cream to the affected skin. Vaseline only traps in the pain if the cracked heels are hot or infected, so avoid Vaseline entirely. However, Vicks (or a no-name stand-in, I use dollar store stuff) and Bag Balm have a soothing effect on the cracked heels, and feel cool when applied, bringing relief to the dry, cracked heels. Also, with the thick consistency of the creams, they can do quick battle to penetrate the skin along with the Aloe Vera and get those heels back to pain-free use. Rub in either of these 2 creams until they start to feel hot in your hands, paying special attention to deep cracks and the sides of the heels. Massage in with your thumbs to give a great heel massage while you’re at it to give some added relief and circulation.
After liberally slathering the heavy, soothing cream on the cracked heels, wrap them in Ace bandages to protect the heels and also to trap in the creams so they can do their magic. If you have no bandages, then thick cotton socks will do the trick. The key is to allow the creams to set and truly penetrate the cracked heels, while giving the poor heels padding at the same time.
Repeat these processes every day until the cracking and hard skin start to improve. It takes about a week or so. After the first 48 hours, switch out the bandage if you are using one and replace with the thick socks. These treatments are best done at night before bed so the heels get little use and more time to heal, but the process does work no matter what time of day you use it. Within a week, I had my fiance’s terribly cracked heels back to a usable point where he could walk on them comfortably and get his hard, cracked skin to fill in and soften noticeably.
