This is the story of a rather curious process which befell my little toe over the course of last summer and autumn. Although I wouldn’t normally afflict the online ethers with such an intimate affair, I do know that many people come to this website with questions of cracked toes. If the story and pictures below contribute to identifying your own problem, then I’m glad to be able to help.
It all started in June or July, when I was increasing my barefoot mileage up to about 30 miles (50km.) per week: the amount I had always been accustomed to during the years I had run in shoes. I was feeling strong and healthy, and so for the first time had also reintroduced hill runs. At some point during this period, I began to notice a small, innocous looking crack beginning to develop in the crease under my little toe. I didn’t think much of it. It didn’t hurt. The skin was soft and alive, not dead and dried out. I assumed it was just the epidermis stretching as a result of the extra mileage and perhaps also as a consequence of the hills. Actually, a similar thing had happened between my big toe and first smaller toe a couple of years earlier, when I had first started running barefoot. The area became a little tender for a while, probably as the muscles underneath also stretched, but nothing ever developed out of it. The skin began to heal from underneath, and it all cleared up over a few weeks.
But this time it didn’t clear up. The crack began to deepen, until it had created a fissure several millimetres thick. By late August, I had drawn a clear correlation between hills, distance, and the degree to which the crack was worsening. Most likely, running downhill was the main culprit.
When running downhill with any momentum, there’s no time to lift your foot before your body weight has already carried you forward to some degree, driven ahead by gravity. Given that the sole of your foot is fixed, planted on the ground, this means that the rest of your foot wants to slide forward slightly. In other words, for a split-second the structure of muscle and bone, carried by gravity, slides forward over the epidermis, stretching it. Yes, I know: purists will always cry: ‘bad form, bad form!’ Theoretically, I should have been lifting my feet faster with a faster turnover, but there does come a point beyond which you can’t raise the RPM any higher. Yes, I know: I should have paid heed to the warning signs, but by now it was too late.
By the beginning of September, a half-centimetre hole had opened up in the epidermis, allowing a clear view to the flesh beneath:
It didn’t bleed, but the flesh beneath did offer itself up as a bright, happy red… The problem now was that with the epidermis fully compromised, the wound didn’t want to heal. It would close over for a day or two then reopen again. Again and again… I cut the hills out from my runs, and this did seem to help a little bit, but anything longer than half an hour or so would be sure to return me back to square one.
And so it lasted for over a month with no improvement whatsoever. I began to worry that perhaps I’d contracted some kind of strange fungus / athlete’s foot. Medication didn’t help, though, and creams only stung like hell. They even seemed to prevent the wound from beginning to stitch back over. So instead I began to spray antiseptic (Dettol) over it a couple of times a day, in order to minimise the risk of infection. I figured that nature would eventually take its course. The skin down there was still very much alive, so it was just a matter of time before my body adapted to the new circumstances, and new tissue began to stretch over the gaping hole in my foot. Well, that was my theory at least…
In the meantime, though, when open, the flesh was very sensitive. Plain water entering the crack was bad enough. But Dettol?… Ooooh, that was cruel!
Things did begin to heal, though, after the beginning of October, so that by the middle of the month the crack looked like this:
By now, the fissure was permanently closed. The skin to either side was drying up and dying off, as visible in the photo. I was hoping that this meant new skin was growing underneath, and would replace the old. Nevertheless, it didn’t feel good to stretch my toe backwards. If I so much as began to force it, it immediately hurt, suggesting that the wound might reopen if I continued.
I kept taking it easy while things healed, so that by the beginning of November the areas of dead skin on either side of the crack were beginning to peel off:
In this picture, the dead skin below the crack has just peeled off. You can see the healthy pink new skin, not just along the line where the fissure had originally sliced into me, but to either side as well. The epidermis has fully stitched together. Although there is still a trough along the line of the original crack (especially on the left-hand side of the picture where the fissure was deepest), this subsequently smoothed and thickened out.
A few days later, the strip of dead skin above the original crack also peeled off (pictured above). By this point, I was able to stretch my little toe back normally again. It’s never bothered me since. I run bigger hills than every before and my feet are happy. All’s well that ends well.
As subjective as it must remain, I suspect that I do have slightly more flexibility in my little toe now. Or more precisely, it doesn’t feel so tight if I pull back on it. Before this whole incident began, a thick layer of leathery skin bound the toe to the metatarsals. No wonder: shoes prevent us from bending our feet in the way that nature originally intended. Without ever being fully stretched, the skin – along with the connective tissue underneath – will tighten to whatever extent we use it. Running barefoot downhill is probably the most stress you can ever put on the underside of your foot. If you give your body enough time to adapt (which I obviously didn’t…), then there’s no reason not to be able to gradually stretch this tissue out without causing an injury.
Interestingly, there hasn’t been any sign of a similar crack developing in my left foot. We do all use our feet slightly differently from one another, so perhaps this is reason enough. Who knows. The main thing is that, for whatever reason, the connective skin under my left little toe isn’t quite so thick as it used to be under my right. Perhaps as a result it can more easily stretch without tearing.
ADDENDUM, Nov. 2015:
Guess what? Now the whole process is repeating itself on my left little toe. I just returned from a run and noticed a strange sensation while walking the last few steps back home… I looked down and to my disbelief saw something that looked very much like the first photo on this page. So it’s opened up too. Maybe it’s no coincidence. I’ve been putting in more hill miles than ever before, as preparation for my first ultra. Just hope it doesn’t knock training back! We’ll see, and I’ll post updates as to how things progress.
Joy of Barefoot Running 
I am a dancer and get the same problem, mostly from performing turns barefoot, or in spring when my feet go from thick winter boots to flip flops. I use strapping tape when my toe cracks, to tape the toe to the ball of my foot which seems to help, the white adhesive is a bit messy though. You have to put a bandaid pad down over the crack first.
It sounds like the same cause: in your case pulling on the skin through friction with the ground (doing turns barefoot), in mine running down hills. Doesn’t taping the toe to the ball of the foot restrict movement, though? Doesn’t it mean that the skin ends up healing in exactly the same way as before, without actually having stretched? (Which means that the next time you do the same movements you’ll head towards the same result: cracking.) What would happen if you simply allowed the skin to stretch over time instead, taping it down to protect deeper cracking, but taping it so that there’s a bit of stretch in there too? That’s effectively what happened to me – although it’s definitely painful until new skin tissue starts to grow over the newly stretched area with the crack on its surface. I also wonder whether you could avoid the whole issue by rubbing oil into the skin before it gets to the point of cracking.
I do taekwondo and we practise without shoes on, I have this problem too! Last night one opened up after I had been running and jumping around. I didn’t realise it was from dry skin? Would moisturising my feet regularly help prevent this? Athlete problems huh?!
I think it’s a combination of dry skin and especially forcing the skin on the sole of the foot to stretch beyond its “normal” means. In shoes, the skin on the sole never has a chance to stretch, and it takes a lot of time going barefoot before the skin builds up thickness, strength and stretchiness. Another issue could be nutrition. Over the last few years, I’ve accumulated a number of small, innocuous cracks on the inner side of my big toe, most of which were originally caused by cuts from running barefoot. They healed, but never to the point of completely disappearing – small, painless cracks have remained. Over the last months I upped my protein intake (which, as a vegan, may have been on the low side) and the cracks have completely disappeared.
Any treatments or cure !!!?
WHY! This always happens to me and I hate it. I want to be free to walk barefoot! All I eat is protein. This is not the cause.
Does it happen to your little toe as well? Here are some other causes to consider:
(1) Going from a full life in shoes to suddenly always walking barefoot (ie. overdoing it!)
(2) Could it be that you’re pronating as you push off with each footstep? This would cause the area around the little toe to get stretched. If you’re overly pronating, then you could be overly stretching your toe. Instead of feeling like you’re pushing off with each step, try to imagine instead that you’re simply lifting each foot from the ground. This is a good idea in any case, as it also helps to prevent overly stressing the calf muscles and achilles tendon (especially when running is concerned).
(3) Could you have some kind of infection which is preventing the crack from healing?
This just started happening to me. I have plantar fasciitis and got some orthotics a month ago. When I started exercising again I found these little cracks between my pinkie toes. I had no idea what caused it. Today, after swimming in the pool I raced my child back to our hotel room and I instantly split both toes. Yes, I was running barefoot. My feet are well hydrated so dry skin is not the culprit. Who knows.
Chlorine in pools is notorious for drying the skin. I was just playing at a local splash pad with my daughter my flip flops got soaked in the water and low and behold the crack is back! lol We have to filter our shower and drinking water because the chlorine is so bad my toe first cracked when we moved here and I was pregnant my feet were stretching under the weight of growing baby.
When this happens to me I use super glue to bind the crack shut. I apply it in the morning, late afternoon (before my run), and then after my evening shower.
Do you run barefoot? Wow, does the superglue withstand such a direct beating?
Thanks for your input to this discussion!
I get this and let’s just say I’m not one to enjoy activities… I usually sew it together with a needle and thread and it heals quicker that way.
Happens to my 11yo son all the time. Seems like we can never get them to heel. We homeschool and the kids are always out running and playing without shoes. Will try and hydrate with coconut oil, see if it helps heal and disinfect at the same time.
Good idea about the coconut oil. Over the last few months my other little toe started developing a crack – probably as a result of getting dried out on dusty tracks over the summer. I’ve been creaming it, though, which seems to have done the trick, and now the crack (which never got to the point of getting painful) has more or less disappeared.
I’m 16 and I’ve been getting the same thing since I was little and to this day I still get them. I always thought my toe was going to fall off because of it pretty funny huh. I have no idea why I wasn’t really an active kid but I still get them.
I’ve recently noticed I have a crack on my right pinky toe on the underside. I had been putting gold bond lotion on my foot as my heels tend to crack when the weather gets cooler here in North Tx. But the gold bond only stings that spot. I’m not a barefoot runner. I where socks on the floor. Sometimes might be barefoot around the house, but not often as my feet get cold. I’ve used trace minerals from mortersupplements.com. it usually heals anything. Fungal or otherwise. I’ve even put neosporine on it in case there was an infection and I have a bandaid on it. It hurts. It’s not swollen. But that gash is there. I want to try and keep it clean and covered so no infection will take hold. I tend to be suceptible to skin or other issues as I have chronic fatigue. And have had candida systemically in the past. So fungal issues are easier for my body to catch. So I’ve been trying to eat less sugary things (that’s hard) as that helps feed the yeast and cause fungal growth in the body. If it continues, I may try soaking it in organic cornmeal as that helps aliviate any kind of foot fungus. I will keep you posted. Thanks for posting this. I thought I was alone in this malady.
Hi Shari, thanks for your input – do keep us posted about what helps. I wonder, though, whether the cause of your problem might be different from some of the others listed in the comments of this post. I know my own problem was caused by overly stretching the skin by barefooting up and down steep surfaces – something which, over time, resolved itself as the skin adapted to the new circumstances. Have you subjected your feet/toes to a lot of stress or stretching? Regardless of the cause, it’s always good to know what helps in healing 🙂
I have been having some plantar fasciitis that I started to do some stretching of the toes and arch. But the crack was there before doing those exercises. I’ve been having some calcium issues lately. Trying to find a supplement that I don’t react negatively to with no success yet. Maybe that. Don’t know.
Thank-you for all information, all so new to me, cause i am super healthy and used to be a fitness athlete and studied sport , this sudden content is truly freaking me .out. the information on the site has helped. Thank you
For the first rime ever ive just got a crack in my baby toe crease under my foot, it looked like two small lines yesterday so i thought it was a bite but today they have opened up, i have just been in bangkok for 10 days nice humid weather and now am back in johannesburg where i live where is is very hot and dry, i dont do much sport and do walk around bear feet but not excessively. My diet is bad at the moment, not enough protein vegies and fruit, but im not over weight
This happens to me every year going into winter! Nice to know I am not the only one with this problem.
This happens to me every winter. I’m a swimmer, so athletes foot and antifungal are a part of my daily routine (sharing a damp tile pool deck with countless other people is no good for feet). My pinky toe wastes no time in cracking all the way down to healthy pink skin when it happens, which is usually once every winter. I have no idea what to do anymore. 😦
Hi all, I get this fairly often as well, especially in winter as the above people pointed out.
One thing I’ve learned that aggravates the condition in bathing. Soaking feet in water for a bit will shrivel the skin even more and make it easier to tear or make the tears larger. I learned this the hard way. So the combination of sweat from activity and bathing is the formula that causes this to happen to me very easily. I’ve not found a concrete solution other than keeping it dry, which is really difficult in winter. Cold feet sweat a ridiculous amount for some reason.
I get this pinky toe problem at least once a year, also a couple of time a year, my lower lip will split in half.
Ive heard it has something to do with b vitamin and potassium deficiency from Dr. Berg.
Thank you for this story. I started to look for it after trying third antifungal cream. Problem is I’m not running and walk barefoot only at home. On one foot it’s the small toe but on right one the second toe. No other signs of athletes foot. But the crack is itching and burning when open. It repeats on left foot and I kept ignoring it. But when it started on the other I thought it’s a spreading infection.
I am a dancer and I get this quite often. At one point in my life I was told it was a strand of athletes foot. I’m not sure if that completely true but I do know that the over the counter cream Tinactin (also come in a spray) cures it every time. I usually use the spray the night before I know I’m going to be dancing and the cream for any breakouts that occur.
Thanks Tanya, and glad that Tinactin works for you. It didn’t for me! The more people join this thread, the more it seems possible that there are various causes of cracks in the skin of the foot. I’m sure some are fungal, some may be due to mineral/vitamin deficiencies, some simply to over stretching the skin.
I use new skin. It’s a liquid bandaid/ antiseptic on a bottle with a brush like nail polish. I use it as soon as it starts and it flexes with your skin so you can continue to run or whatever while it heals. Heals pretty quick this way. Only thing I have found that allows it to heal without stopping activities.
I just got home from a 10 day yoga teacher training and noticed the same problem. I have had it happen before but this time I can definitely correlate it to over use. I’ll try some of the remedies that you’ve mentioned above. Thank you!
I have always soaked my foot in Condys Crystals it alway seems to work!
It’s athlete’s foot…Like, if you look up Athletes foot it literally shows these exact type of examples. The reason Tinactin worked well for some of these people is because.. It’s for Athlete’s foot. Running barefoot is likely the reason you are continuing to get this.
Yes, for some people it may well be athlete’s foot – but definitely not for everybody!
I too have a fissure on my left pinky toe now for over a year. I walk 5 km everyday and I was told it was due to me wearing tight shoes and that it would go away once I changed my shoes. But it hasn’t. I have been applying ordinary crack cream for 6 months now, but no improvement. Today I have tried an anti-bacterial ointment and will wait to see if its works by applying it for next 8 days. My problem has got worse since I started yoga classes, where I have to be barefoot. I feel I will have to soon take medical advice for this.
My toes get like that when I eat oat, plus I get canker sores, and pimples in my butt. I came into this site looking for a picture and a name for that problem. I am not a runner, just thought that you could use the info. Thanks
My 3 yrs old son has it on his big toes and I don’t know where and when he got it though he doesn’t like to wear shoes nor socks as he feels hot. I tried to wash it with the neem tree (boil the leaves) and now it’s getting dry but the thick skin still there. for the thick skin, I apply petroleum jelly and every time the dry skin fell off I just cut it.
i am soaking feet and will rub dry with flannel – to remove any hard skin. the crack beneath my little toe was painful today – and becoming inflamed – the key is to soak – taking showers – we don’t soak and soften the feet – feel the skin on arm for example – it is soft and moves. I intend a long soak in a bowl of water and then moisture for the flexibility of the skin – just think I get dry skin on my hands – its the same with feet and so our feet are drying out – which causes cracks – soak and moisturise – I couldn’t put on a trainer today so action required – I ve soaked and stretched my feet and toes in water and my toe isn’t hurting after soaking – I suspect walking barefoot dry the feet including toes – we have problems because skin needs to be moisturised – hope my thoughts help – showers are the bane of foot health – try softening skin by soaking – I feel the benefit after one long soak already – happy days Karen xx
Hi my toe this morning is pain free, after being so painful yesterday with a crack under the smallest toe – I can see on the first photo above – that there is a slight yellowing – this is hard skin from being barefoot. I was always barefoot in younger days – I don’t recall problems but then I had a bath not shower. I was asked in my barefooting days by a medical professional did the skin under my feet hurt. I said no problems. Skin moves – we stretch limbs, open and close our hands, skin is meant to move – hard skin means skin in flexible – hence it cracks. I came to this website for insight and to follow advice – what works for others – eventually thinking this through, made me realise – I need to soak my feet – soaking softens the feet – rub off dry skin – moisturise. Today my little toe after soaking for an hour yesterday – due to my own neglect for that long – now maybe 10 – 15 minute soak daily should keep problems at bay. I hope this helps some – it may not help everyone and in this case medical advice should be sought. Many thanks to all contributions – its helped me to realise what I need to do – thank you Karen xx
Hiya just rereading a couple of the entries above – ie yoga – again “yoga poses” stretch the skin beneath the foot and toes – if skin is dry it will crack – even if no obvious signs of dry skin, the fact it cracks demonstrates dry skin – best wishes k xx
I went out last night and wore a new pair of shoes and woke up in the middle the night in excruciating pain in my foot. Looked at it in the morning and noticed this crack under my little toe that looks like the 1st picture in this post. I am very active and walk 10 to 15,000 steps every day. I’m seeing a lot of conflicting stuff here and I know I don’t have athlete’s foot so should I still use the tinactin spray or powders? Also I like the idea of the liquid bandage. Will that impede healing though?
Yes, there’s lots of conflicting stuff here because it seems that there are definitely multiple causes for the same symptoms. If you don’t have athlete’s foot, there’s no need for antifungals. I’ve never used a liquid bandage, so can’t comment on that. Best of luck in healing!
I’ve gotten this every six+ months or so for several years, and I’m definitely not a dancer or anything, but it does usually happen when I stretch my toes farther than usual, like when I crouch down suddenly in cheap shoes.
I’ve tried everything, taping it down and letting it heal (heals fast, but returns fast), leaving it alone and ignoring it (not effective, and cleaning it out? Ouch!). Just putting a bandaid over it and ignoring it (not particularly effective).
What I’ve found the most effective is to keep the skin moist which significantly speeds up the healing (I use either a lanolin cream or neosporin or whatever I have on hand), and put one or two bandaids over the cut to keep the toe as straight as possible-this lets it heal better with less scarring and lengthens the time between cracks. It hurts more, but has better results.
I am in the same boat, had this issue as long as I can remember under both baby toes. So much scar tissue there now that it has tightened and hardened the skin to the point that if I so much as step across a floor transition strip the wrong way (that hard piece that separates the different flooring between rooms), over extend my foot when stretching my leg or someone leaves a shoe out that I step on, I KNOW without having to look it has split yet again. It feels like the worst kind of paper cut… it always takes way too long to heal. I’ve tried all the things here people have mentioned as well, to no avail, it stings like crazy, washing it especially, removing toe jam from inside the fissures is a regular chore, doctor just shrugs.
I’ve actually gone a couple months now without the tearing but I’m so traumatized I’ve notice I walk differently on the outer edges of my feet these days to avoid reopening them, as a result I get more muscular pain in feet but it seems to be helping with the constant open wounds. I’m not an athlete, I’m just average, my skin typically has good moisture levels and I certainly do not suffer from athletes foot. I wear quality shoes and sometimes (cautiously) walk around the house barefoot.
I feel like my toes are just defective, for some reason it seems there just isn’t enough skin under my baby toes and despite trying to train it as described in this post, I haven’t found any success, just more pain and longer healing times. I seem to constantly be looking down at the floor so I can dodge toys, extension cords, literally the slightest difference in terrain on a floor makes me just cringe, one wrong misstep = weeks or months of trying to get the skin to close. Alas I’ve found other sufferers to commiserate with. You know it’s affecting you when it’s still on thoughts two months after healing. I shall enjoy this time in between as long as I can!
Try Vaseline. After running Monday, I woke up on Tuesday with a split like the one pictured under my little toe. I noticed it stinging as soon as I got out of bed. I smothered it in Vaseline, inserted a wadge of paper towel between the little toe and the one next to it, put on a sock and rested for the day. Slept like that too. Woke up on Wednesday with the toe looking and feeling much better and went for a long barefoot walk. I was able to run barefoot today without any pain and the red flesh visible in the crack looks like it’s gradually getting covered in new skin.
Spray 3% hydrogen peroxide on the crack every morning and every evening and it will be gone in a week.
My 4 year old gets the crack under her toes, its sooo hard to clean. We now do a foot spa with dish detergent to clean and dry out the cut and then I use Medicated Penaten Cream (some parents call it Butt Cream), the medical ingredient is Zinc Oxide (18%). I put a good amount on the sore and I also put a thin layer on the others. If its not bedtime, then I put socks on, if bedtime then I just let the feet be with the creme. This seems to help heal it quickly.
Has nobody considered poor/slow healing might be a result of diabetes – no age restrictions or the fact that you may or may not be overweight?
Whatever it is it’s contagious because me, my three kids and my husband all got it within a two month period and when it comes around we all end up getting it again. I soak in vinegar to prevent and treat.
My son has had this issue since he was probably three, he is now 13. He never made a huge issue of it till lately… Saying it is getting painful and a burden to deal with during with sports. I’ve been reading quite a few forums and people’s responses and the only one that has made sense to me so far is the diagnoses of Eczema. My son has dealt with minor cases eczema on and off and has food and seasonal allergies. No other thoughts or comments make sense. So next doctor’s visit I’m going to ask for Eczema cream and see if that does the trick.
Hello!
I had the same issue and have found a solution. Corona cream. You can buy it from animal and feed stores, or online. It also helps with cracked fingers.
Apply, at least, once in the morning and once in the evening, with (preferably) a mid-day application if you can find time. Try to wear socks during the process. Keep up with it, that’s the important thing, there’s no such thing as instant gratification in healing.
Try it out y’all!!
This is amazing. i have this exact thing that looks exactly like yours. think it went away but now it’s back ! ran barefoot on the beach but that was a year ago. it came back and i’m not sure why – i run but with shoes now. great insight and thanks for sharing ! the mystery seems to continue !
I have the same thing and a podiatrist said its from moisture being trapped, not dry skin. i was given something called “crack cream” to actually dry it out and it healed properly. Now I just have to be sure i completely dry my feet after showers to avoid it and havent had an episode in a very long time. I used to get them all the time as a teen playing sports or just randomly. it wasn’t atheletes foot.
Having same ptoblem.and repeating frequently. Any medicine to fix it?
I have experienced this exact problem for years! I readily admit that I am overweight, so it is NOT from exercise LOL As soon as my pinky toe cracks, yet again, The best and only way I have found to soothe it and heal it is pretty simple. I put a dab of aquaphor on a flexible band aid and wrap the band aid around my toe. Take it off to shower and add a new one after you have showered and the area is good and dry. After a few days Usually within a weeks time it is healed over again. This happens to me about once every other month and has happened even when I was skinny. I dont do barefoot anymore because I need support but I do wear flip flops or birkenstocks
Hi
I was looking this up because I have just started swimming again after about a four year gap (with no toe issues). Day two left skin in the little toe has cracked. I know it’s jot altheletes foot because my feet are rather nice but it is a bit sore now. I remembered immediately I had it last time I swam. Going to try your dettol spray (through gritted teeth) and see if that helps. Reading these comments I am wondering if it could be that I swim quite hard and my toes are splayed and get stretched when I push off from the wall? Typically I go straight in to do I g a hundred lengths so could it me that? Any thoughts welcome. I remember it was almost impossible to get rid of last time.
That is really interesting. Mine seem to have sorted themselves out. My toe is curled in. It was from me pushing away from the swimming pool wall so splaying the toes. I stopped doing that and the. Seemed to have stretched it a bit as seems perfectly fine now. Thank you because I could never understand and it is so sore when it happens.
Not sure if anyone will see this, but my daughter has had these lately. I took her to a pediatric podiatrist and he says he sees it all the time! He explained that it’s a tight tendon in the toe. You can tell because all of her toes are straight and the 4th toe on each foot is curved in. Those are the toes she gets the cracks in. He said it’s from the friction with the ground, they develop calluses, then the calluses get dry and split open. She has a quick in-office procedure scheduled where he’ll numb the offending toes and cut the tendon. He said it’ll immediately straighten out and then as the tendon grows and reconnects, it will stay straight! Yay! He also said no down time or anything, she can run and play same day. Maybe worth looking into for others? Our podiatrist said that the procedure is VERY effective on children because their bones still very much want to be straight and haven’t “grown crooked” yet.
I have been getting the cracks under my pinky toe since I was very young. I’m older than dirt now and only get it every summer after opening the pool. I’m thinking from pushing off to swim across the pool, maybe (?).
I’ve always used Merthiolate and it stings like heck, heals quickly. I didn’t have any Merthiolate, And this time it hurts so bad it keeps me awake at night.m and this time it hurts so bad it keeps me awake at night. I thought they stopped making Merthiolate because of the mercury, but I just bought a mercury-free bottle. it didn’t sting at all when I applied it, but it may be because the wound is a few days old and doesn’t look as raw as they normally do in the beginning. Either that or the mercury is what was really doing the trick! This particular crack seems to be the largest one I’ve ever had. Hoping it heals soon because it is so painful this time.
Hi. I figured mine was swimming too and pushing off from the side. Try pushing off from the ball of your keeping your toes flat rather than rolling through your toes. Once I did that mine healed almost straight away and I haven’t had since. Think it is the skin is tighter there and if you only do each summer your are tearing it as it hasn’t stretched. Worked for me.
I have this happen to my second toe on my right foot. Right at the base where it connects to my foot. It seems that it splits when I do something that stretches the toe more than it normally stretch. When I looked at it once it healed, the skin seemed tight, almost shorter than the second toe in my other foot (no issues with this toe). I was thinking of trying to paint on the product “new skin” to see if the wound will heal without the edges stuck together, therefore hopefully giving the underside of that toe more stretching room.
Try going to a podiatrist! We took my daughter for this earlier this summer (I commented up a little ways) and he said it’s a tendon issue. One of the tendons going to that toe is too tight and that’s what’s causing it. Your problem sounds exactly like hers! He did a quick in office procedure where he numbed the toe and inserted a little needle that cut the tendon. Now as it regrows over the next few months it will regrow the proper length. Her toe looks super nice and straight now and she no longer ever gets cracks at the base of it!
Is it possible you have athletes foot in that particular digit? I mean, if the toe is cracked from the stretching issue it stands to reason the area is now vulnerable to picking up any fungus on any surface where you are barefoot – fungus lives off dead skin.
Anywhere you might pick up fungus is a liability with a cracked toe. A damp bathroom, basement, swimming pool, beach, sweaty shoes with no socks , dirty socks etc. keeping them clean and dry is paramount but a good anti fungal might do the trick. I prefer to spray my feet with a mixture of Melaleuca oil , vodka as an emulsifier, and water after washing and drying my feet. You can spray it in your shoes , use it as a cleaning agent for floors and showers, add it to a lotion or even olive oil if you want to keep the moisture in as well. Tea Tree and Mellaluca can be drying and should be used with care around children but it has hundreds of uses. My mom was a foster mother after we were all grown and she used the same spray along with the oil in her shamppp/conditioner to keep lice away.
She might have children brought to her in the dead of night and had to get them comfortable and to bed so she couldn’t freak about it. This way she was not worried about it in the moment and could calmly check the child the next day.
I have the same problem. Had it happen last year….a couple days ago…here we go again. I stepped on one of my son’s bath puzzle pieces on one pinky toe. The other I noticed it after I had kicked/tripped over one of my son’s stools with my other foot. I can’t win. I have been wearing open birkenstock type shoes the last few weeks in the heat. Not sure if maybe my feet might be dehydrated from being out in the open and the trauma happened at just the right time or not. I don’t exercise like I should; did a lot of walking on our vacation a few weeks ago but didn’t have this happen till just the last few days. 😦
I use Johnson &Johnson Advanced Healing gel bandaids when I get this, which I then cover with a band-aid to keep it in place.
But the packaging says not to be used on fungal infections…
I’ve had this for a while and have been experimenting with different solutions. I believe it’s because my feet are sweating a lot at work and my socks are moist (sorry). The reason seems to be always being wet and damp, it seems to be some kind of fungal problem like minor athletes foot because it heals with the athlete foot cream.
You got athletes foot.
Apply an antifungal
I thought I might chime in as well. When I saw the photos it took me straight back to my childhood because I would get these ALL the time! For me, the cause was well known. It rains a lot here in FL and I used to play in the standing water that always forms at the base of our steeped driveway. Barefoot, of course. The breaks under my toes would ALWAYS form within hours. They were itchy and hurt like hell, but would disapear within days…until the next downpour.
It does seem as though that area beneath our toes must be particularly delicate if cracks form there for so many reasons.
Wow what a great find! I just started hiking barefoot this Spring, and though my feet seem to be getting pretty tough….boom! –Mysterious case of the cracked little toe! It actually happened playing badminton barefoot in the grass. It’s quite annoying and has made my slow down a little. I’m glad to hear that it will go away, eventually. Thanks for all the great details and geeesh, I had no idea I would find so many with this same problem. Thanks for banding together peeps!
Its athletes foot.
Lotrimin, if that doesnt work then doctor. Also you MUST replace all shoes and socks at once will being treated.