The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
ACV, Castile
Posted by Blindedbyscience (WNC, US) on 08/12/2014
My feet went south about 8 yrs ago. Cracked, dry, peeling all the time. My little toes and one other are thickened. Moisturizers and oils, and antifungals don't have much effect. Finally I thought maybe I need to wash them with soap to make sure the shampoo and conditioner are off. So I've been washing them last in the shower with Castile soap and soaking them in full strength vinegar every couple days. Instead of getting drier and hurting they immediately started looking better. The toes are starting to look better too. One day I put some oil on to moisturize before work and that had a bad effect. It's been a week and they aren't perfect but I'm no longer peeling chunks off (tmi! )
Castile Soap
Posted by Gwen (Peru, Il) on 07/08/2013
★★★★★
I as well tried Castile liquid soap after seeing the below post. Put peppermint scented on my feet and wore either plastic bags or socks to bed and in 15 days they were 90% better. It's coming back again but that lasted 6 months should've kept up with maintenance treatments but am starting the regimen again!
Mentholated Vapor Rub
Posted by Alex (Thessaloniki) on 03/02/2022
I have both cracked heels and dry hands. My dry hands are from washing them often and from cold. I took 500mg of niacinamide per day for a month, as Dr Berg suggested in the video and absolutely nothing happened. The problems remained (until I tried Tricia's Cracked Heel Remedies).
Mentholated Vapor Rub
Posted by Deirdre (Connecticut) on 06/14/2021
Thanks, Art. I did try clotrimazole cream during the winter, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I will start up again but I want to test the niacin supplementation first for a month to see if it can make a dent. Will update!
Vitamin B
Posted by Dano (Toronto, Canada) on 12/02/2009
★★★★★
Two people I know had bad cases of cracked heels. They tried different doctors, creams etc. to no avail. One old school doctor started treating them with vitamin B injections and they were cured in short order.
p.s. Love this site and all the great and helpful people contributing to it. Ted is GREAT!
Vicks
Posted by Ebryant (Tampa, Fl) on 10/07/2009
★★★★★
I am 32 years old and have suffered with dry, cracked heels (sometimes bleeding and extremely painful) for years. BUT NO MORE!!!!
Take it from me, if you want soft feet, here is what you do:
Every Night until there are no more cracks:
1)Take a foot file (looks like fine grit sand paper on a paddle) and rub it over your dry heels in order to sand off all the dead dry skin.
2)Soak your feed in a pan of hot water with about 1/4 peroxide or ACV (whichever you have on hand or whichever you prefer).
3)Once the skin on your feet has softenend up, gently exfoliate your entire foot with some type of foot scrub (sea salt and olive oil, brown sugar, borax... whatever you like).
4)Rinse your feet well and while they are still damp massage your feet with V***'s Vapo-Rub. Wrap your feet in saran-wrap and put on a pair of socks.
I always do this in the evening and go to bed with my feet all wrapped up. I enjoy the warming tingle of the menthol/eucalyptus from the rub as I fall off to sleep. And in the morning I wake up to baby soft feet!!! Once your cracked HEELS are HEALED, lol... you will need to continue the treatment 1-3 times a week.
Tricia's Cracked Heel Remedies
Posted by Tricia (Ireland) on 09/26/2009
One thing that I forgot to say in my previous post is to mark your nail file in some manner i.e. nail polish. Make it obvious so that you never use it on your finger nails or that somebody else might use it inappropriately. If you are carrying an infection of any kind (and most people do) it will be transferred to the fingers. The nail file can be cleaned with peroxide or rubbing alcohol but the dust is so minute and nail files are not easy to fully clean without a steriliser. So make sure it is kept for YOUR feet. As we say in Ireland "to be sure, to be sure".
Hydrogen Peroxide Soaks
Posted by Mo (Battle Ground, WA) on 07/12/2009
★★★★★
soaked feet nightly in drugstore strength hydrogren peroxide until cracks were healed.
Anti-Fungal Supplements
Posted by Jonna ( NYC, NY, USA) on 07/27/2008
★★★★★
1:30am, Saturday Night: I read AC from West Midlands, England's post about using Garlic for Athlete's foot a few days ago and was eager to try it. I have had athlete's foot on and off for years. I also have deeply etched cracked heals which I understand is possibly a fungal infection. And then recently the skin around my right big toe started to peel and looks nasty as can be. I tried the best OTC for Athlete's Foot, but with limited success. Takes 5 days to go away and then comes back a couple weeks later.
We had just run out of garlic, so I opted instead for another powerful anti-fungal, Wild Oil of Oregano. I use OO for coughs and sinus infections and had about 15 capsules left. Before going to sleep, I punctured a capsule of oil and rubbed it over both of my feet, especially concentrating it on my big toe, in between my toes where the athelete's foot itched and the cracks on my heals. I put socks on so the oil wouldn't get all over the sheets. It doesn't smell bad at all -- much better than garlic for sure!
Just like AC reported, there was dramatic improvement by the morning! The infection around my big toe was 50% better... The blisters in between my toes had disappeared. The cracks in my heals have started to seal and are unbelievably soft... (I had been rubbing shea butter on the cracks every night, which helped, but not to this extent).
I did the Oregano oil 3 morning and night for 2 days, took a day off. The infection around my big toe is all but gone. No more peeling skin. The cracks on my heels continue to slowly improve. Tonight I switched to Grapefruit Seed Extract and my feet, normally cold, warmed up right away. This may be a great remedy for those suffering from cold hands and feet. My feet are still tinglingly warm 2 hours after applying the GSE.
I have the feeling that the GSE will work just as well as the Oregano Oil. I also am trying the GSE on my perioral dermatitis and will report back any improvements. I can tell you that the itchy postules around my nose have disappeared. I had to wash off the GSE after about 20 minutes because it started to burn.
Vitamin A
Posted by Suzanne (IN) on 04/04/2022
★★★★★
I take vitamin A, it cured my cracked heels.
Dietary Changes
Posted by A kindred spirit (U.K. ) on 06/21/2019
★★★★★
I have been gluten free for a week, and was surprised on day 3 to find my cracked heels had disappeared, and the overall smoothness of the skin on legs and arms had dramatically improved!
Yogurt and Henna Foot Wrap
Posted by Leesa (Ca) on 05/28/2016
★★★★★
Hi, I had a friend with very bad cracked feet. I went on this site and others to find out remedies. I forwarded her everything from, ACV, Coconut Oil to Vic's Vapor Rub! Yes, there were rave reviews with those remedies. Her Mom told her to put yogurt and henna mixed on her feet and IT WORKED within days! She put 1/4 cup of plain yogurt and same of henna. I know she did put it on and wrapped her feet with clear plastic and then put socks to soak it in. Maybe at night while you sleep. Good Luck!
Apple Cider Vinegar, Kefir
Posted by Anon (Us) on 08/07/2015
★★★★★
We stumble onto things as we try to alleviate our sufferings. My heel backside was itchy, red, dry, cracking and painful, from what, who knows, blister on bottoms of feet and sides of foot.
I used the apple cider vinegar with the mother and it felt better but not cured, so in the neck of the KEFIR bottle I discovered a thick white paste forms and I put a finger in there and collect it and apply on top the vinegar and it feels so good .
Skin looks much better. Must be the enzymes. Kefir facials on top of diluted 50/50 apple cider vinegar are also nice. Pour Kefir in hands and apple to all my skin, leave on till next shower.
Kefir soaks LEFT on scalp and hair for an hour before shampoos NICE.
Mentholated Vapor Rub
Posted by Deirdre (Connecticut) on 06/13/2021
Hi Charity,
Thanks for passing along the video link. I watched it last night and found it very interesting. Did you ever try B3 (niacin) for your cracked heels, per Dr. Berg's video? I have one crack on my heel that I can't get to fully heal NO MATTER WHAT so I have been taking low-dose niacin (25 mg) for the past few weeks and no change yet. Decided to try a 500 mg niacin cap today and wow, what a flush! Lasted a long time. Would love more details if you've tried the B3 - mgt dosage, how often, how long before you saw results, etc. Thank you!
Mentholated Vapor Rub
Posted by Goldengirl52 (USA) on 06/14/2021
Another Dr. Berg fan, I'm telling you Charity, he teaches on "my level of understanding" and I can't say how much he's helped me. I have learned from many people since being diagnosed with T2 Diabetes, but it's led me to real eye-openers on other ailments I have and they are being helped so much it is like a miracle. I've never bought any of his products because they are too expensive for me, but I follow him as best I can.
It's a thrill to see others here on EC that are finding truth in the alternatives to conventional medicine like surgery, and drugs, huge hugs!!
Essential Fatty Acids
Posted by Ted (Bangkok, Thailand) on 06/19/2012
★★★★★
Kelp
Posted by Julie (Provo, Ut) on 03/24/2012
★★★★★
Taking a kelp supplement helped clear up my cracked heels. I had read that iodine could cure tonail fungus and I figured it might help with my cracked heels too. It did, and quite quickly. While they were healing I used just a regular heel conditioner.
I ran out of Kelp and didn't get any more for over a month. My heels are cracked and bleeding again.
Mentholated Vapor Rub
Posted by Shelley (Larkfield, California) on 10/13/2011 10 posts
★★★★★
This may seem like a stretch but it does work.
It takes around two or so months depending on how bad the fungal infection is, if it is in the toe nails that will take two to three months, but it is the only thing that cured my Dad's fungus that he had, been bothered with since his days as a Navy man, back in the mid 1950's.
You take Mentholatum or Vicks Vapor Rub, and rub a thick coat all over your feet at bedtime, and cover your feet with your socks, you must sleep in your socks. In the morning put on a fresh pair of socks, and repeat each night until the fungus, cracks and itchy smelly feet are gone.
It took my Dad two month of this and he had tried all the prescriptions, and OTC remedies and nothing worked until this. I have used it also and it does kill the fungus and dry cracked feet issues.
Shea Butter
Posted by Rosemarie (Lima, Oh) on 01/09/2010
★★★★☆
I suffered from cracked heals for over twenty years, I tried everything, that only worked for a while Someone told me about raw shea butter for somthing else. It was working so well that I decided to use it on my feet, and wear a pair of socks to bed, the very next day I began to see the difference in my cracked heels.
I have been using it for a week now and my heels are almost healed.
Rosemarie.
Oregano Oil
Posted by Sheila (Los Angeles, CA) on 03/19/2009
★★★★★
I am also working on cracked heels. I have heard it is fungus related. I am having some luck with oil of oregano externally. Need to be more diligent about taking internal fungus remedies though... I have been stopping and starting for a year now.
