CALLUS CALLOUS TREATMENT
Callus Treatment
Callus or Callous—no matter how you spell it, calluses can be a nuisance.
But in this article, I’ll explain why they are a necessary nuisance and how to care for calluses.
ASK ANA
“Ana, I don’t know if you have addressed this issue before so here goes: I use your nail and cuticle oil everyday, all of my nails look great except one, my middle finger on my right hand. I think it is because I use my stylus when typing on my iPad™. I hate the crusty look and feel of this finger. I have used clippers to the point of making it bleed. What should I do?” ~Ruth Ann
ANSWER
I actually learned something while researching this article—the importance of triangular writing utensils.
Huh? Read on… it will make sense in a minute.
All through my high school and college years, I had this thick skin on the side of my right middle finger as well and never really understood why.
Since I haven’t written a term paper in over 20 years, I haven’t had the problem. I spend more hours typing and only write on the occasional post-it note.
Pressure of writing implement on the middle finger causes a callus
Now, with the last two years of nail structure education under my belt, the answer is ridiculously obvious to me.
Don’t Rub Me Wrong
This thick skin is the first major callus that all of us develop when we start to use a pencil. In high school and college, we can spend hours writing.
The body’s protective response to any motion that is rubbing our skin is to create a callus.
Also, pencils and a lot of ball point pens are a hexagon shape which creates a sharp, angled pressure point against the skin.
Spur Me On
You may have also noticed that you have a bump on your bone near this callused skin, that is not on your other hand.
Years of writing irritation caused your body to lay down extra bone to protect your finger in this area as well. This is a bone spur. You can see this really clearly in my photo to the right.
According to WebMD, a bone spur (osteophyte) is a bony growth formed on normal bone. Most people think of something sharp when they think of a “spur,” but a bone spur is just extra bone. It’s usually smooth, but it can cause wear and tear or pain if it presses or rubs on other bones or soft tissues such as ligaments, tendons, or nerves in the body. Common places for bone spurs include the spine, shoulders, hands, hips, knees, and feet.
A bone spur forms as the body tries to repair itself by building extra bone. It typically forms in response to pressure, rubbing, or stress that continues over a long period of time. [Source: WebMD.com]
Since this bone spur doesn’t create a lot of pain, it’s not a medical issue, but I’ve noticed that it can be very tender. Especially when I’m at a 2-day conference taking notes without a life-saving callus! It hurts to write.
Matrix Damage
Depending on where you hold your pencil, it may sit on your matrix (right behind the cuticle line).
If you notice that the side of that fingernail is weaker, or has a tendency to peel, it’s because the continuous pencil pressure has damaged the growing nail cells.
Cut And Regret
Since calluses are a protective, thickened build up of skin cells, they get hard and dry out.
It’s tempting to want to cut or file that skin down. Don’t do it.
The body’s response is to protect the skin from damage. Cutting the callus will simply trigger the body to build the callus thicker. It becomes a vicious cycle and often times a painful one.
Instead, keep the callused skin moisturized with regular application of a high quality, jojoba based nail and cuticle oil.
Solutions
- Try to write with triangular pens or pencils if writing for a long period of time. You can also invest in triangularly shaped pencil grips for current pens and pencils.
- Add a triangular grip to your iPad stylus or try different stylus holding positions, like in the photos to the right.
- Keep callused skin softer with consistent application of a high quality, jojoba based nail and cuticle oil.
Thank You for addressing this problem. very imformative.!!
Ya know, even though we’ve talked about this, I just realized that my huge callous is actually a bone spur! And a pretty big one at that! Which also explains why that nail grows almost perfectly diagonal!
I was pretty excited when I figured this out…yeah, geeky me. And yep, the matrix gets affected in some way. That side of my middle right fingernail really wants to curl in. It just behaves differently. I bet most people are annoyed with that writing hand fingernail.~Ana
That nail only grows on one side and then once it gets a bit longer it peels or breaks. Then I realize it looks awful with that diagonal, jagged cut and end up cutting it short. Then that irritates me because I hate the feeling of short nails and I proceed to peeling and biting and that one nail without even realizing it. I wish it would just go away!
Jen, thank you for stopping by. If you can, you may want to figure out how much of that side you can gently file off, to minimize the peeling. Make sure you are using a high quality, jojoba based nail oil to keep your nails stronger and more flexible. When they are dry and brittle, the break more often. It’s also very important to keep polish on to provide temporary added strength.
Thank you for addressing this issue.
But if I may, I have one question.
You mentioned that the matrix is damaged and the pressure damages the qrowing nail cells.
Can it go back to normal?
My nail on my left middle finger grows diagonally and has done so for many years now.
Will it go back to what it was supposed to be, once I stop doing things that cause this (aka school) ?
Katherine, thanks for stopping by. Unfortunately, once the matrix has been damaged, it’s permanent. I have noticed that if the weird nail growth is caused by the pressure of writing a lot, that when I stopped writing so much (and did more typing), my nail growth on the side of that middle finger improved. The pressure of holding a pen or pencil for several hours will have an effect on the nail cells being created in that portion of the matrix. Hope that helps! ~Ana
My boss recently made us do a writing exercise (maybe a measly half page of handwriting) and afterward the whole side of my finger was red and inflamed! I haven’t been one to hand write things for probably 15+ years, I’m in IT. I told her next time I’d bring my tablet! (And no, I don’t use a stylus either!)
But all this time I’ve thought my proximal fold is permanently lifted from my middle finger. I’ve been using Pure Nail Oil for a while now (just got to where I had to refill my first set of pens) and OMG there’s actually IMPROVEMENT! It’s not actually down against the nail bed yet, but it’s close, and it’s soft, and unless you look closely you can’t even really tell! I’m ridiculously excited about this! I’ve hated this ‘deformity’ all my life! 🙂
Great information! My problem is that I have callous’ on the inside and outside of all ten fingers (along the sides of my nails). I haven’t gotten your nail oil YET, so I basically use vitamin E oil and lotion after at least twice a day and my cuticles look significantly better, but having the callous’ tend to cause hang nails, a lot of them. They are always there, I can’t see or feel a difference.
I will keep up my regimen until I am able to order and receive your Pure Oil. I just thought there were more people like me with the same problem 🙂
Thanks so much for your information. I am always on your site soaking up vital and interesting info!
Carol Jenckes
This explains a lot because not only do I have that kind of weird callous on my right hand ring finger, it’s actually made a dent in that weird end knuckle part, whatever you call it, and the line is crooked and it’s actually slightly curved towards the middle finger. It’s super weird but my nail grows really well on that finger so I’m not complaining!