Corn Treatment Found

January 7, 2012 may well go down in history! That's when I received a call from long-time adopter, Donna Cragin, whose greyhound, Dash, had been treated for corns in August of 2011. She has added some post-operative care to our laser treatment and is getting spectacular results. The Murray Avenue Apothecary Corn and Callous Cream can be obtained from NGAP at the cost of $55 per tube, plus shipping.

Keep in mind that both of her dog's toes were lasered first (and one a second time) but this treatment can certainly be tried without the laser treatment. We would certainly be interested in feedback from anyone that tries it. If you try this treatment, photograph each step. If the photos are good, we will post them on our website.

If this procedure works on all greyhounds, Donna may well get an award!

Corn Treatment for Dash

Dash started limping Spring 2011. It started as occasional limping or skipping off the leg and progressed to constant limping on hard surfaces and only walking on carpet or grass. Taking a walk was over and there was no source of exercise. After some research I went looking for and found two corns, one on each rear middle toe. They are clearly visible when wet. With both back legs affected, he was pathetic.

Both corns were lasered at NGAP 8/18/2011. Two weeks later, one needed to be re-lasered. Mr. Wolf commented the toe seemed infected. Both treatments were followed by antibiotics and Chlorezidine Solution.

Recovery was slow and booties were required to keep the wounds clean and dry. After some internet research, I came across success from a vet in England. His required bi-weekly visits included taking the top layer of dead/dry/callused skin off the corn and applied medication to kill the root…he bandaged the foot and repeated every few weeks until the corn was gone. Each visit would find a smaller corn.

The idea of getting to the root of the corn with the medication made sense. In addition, I reviewed the instructions for Murray Avenue Apothecary's corn/callus cream which I purchased at NGAP. I came up with a program to try to keep the corns from returning..

After the lasered foot was healed enough, I made a 2-3 day supply of the Chlorehexidine Solution at a time. Cut old towels in 2” x 6” strips. Dipped 1 strip for each corn foot in the solution, put in a ziploc bag and heated in the microwave 20-30 seconds. I wrapped the warm compresses around the affected paw and covered with a Ziploc bag (quart size worked best). Leave on for 30 minutes. Remove the bag and rub a small amount of the corn/callus cream into the corn for about 1 minute and replace the Ziploc bag for another 30 minutes.

For the first week, I did this treatment 2x per day. I would examine the corn every day and maybe once a week peel or shave off the dead, dry skin I felt was keeping the medicine from reaching deep into the corn. Over the course of a month to six weeks the corn was gone, except for the laser scar. As it was becoming smaller, it was also less sensitive to squeezing the toe with two fingers. Dash began to put more weight on the paw. To date 1/9/2012 there is no sign of corns returning and he is actually more active at 7, than I can ever remember. I do check all paw often looking for hard circles which may be a sign of a corn returning.

The Murray Avenue corn/callus cream has a quick expiration date, so it may make sense to continue until the cream is gone, every other day or weekly. I have not done this, but I should. We did the treatment in the evening while watching TV…Dash would cooperate and stay lying on his bed during the hour required to complete. The corn/callus cream goes a long way, so only requires a small dab to cover both of his toes.