Lump on ball of foot.

Hi I have a smallish hard flat lump under the skin on the ball of my foot (in the middle). This happened after I stood on a drawing pin, not wearing shoes about 3 months ago. The lump is about 1cm down from the joint on my second toe.

The problem is that it hurts a lot of the time when I am walking and I mainly have to wear flat shoes as higher shoes puts constant pressure on it.

Is there a way to treat this or will I have to put up with it. I am a bit concerned about digging at it in case I do more damage.

I did go to a doctor, but he just told me to keep putting cream on it and rubbing it with a foot scraper.

ANSWER

Hi,

Without being able to visualize the lump I do not know what kind of lump you have. I am concerned that if this lump is from standing on a pin, the pin punctured the skin and you may be having a foreign body reaction. But generally, this would be more than just a lump. The surrounding area might also be a little red and swollen and certainly tender to the touch.
The fact that a doctor has looked at it and told you to apply cream and use a foot scraper leads me to believe it is just a callus.
It that is all it is, there are other ways to treat calluses than just putting cream on them (which generally does not work).
Sometimes you can add an innersole to your shoe to take pressure off the callus and thus reduce the pain.
Regardless of what type of lump you have on your foot, if it hurts that much, find yourself another podiatrist who will take a little more interest in your foot problem.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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