Hulling A Corn At Home?

[vsrenard]

Zola has corns on two of her paw pads. We have tried a number of things, including bag balm and the Murray apothecary cream. I am wondering about hulling one of the corns as its edges are clear and there is a ridge on one side that I can get a small edge into. For those who hull at home, what tool do you use? I've read the grassmere procedure; they say to use a dental extractor, which I don't have. Can I use a regular thin flathead?

 

Thank you!

[rallyp]

I use a pair of cuticle scissors. I don't actually use it to cut anything, I use one of the blades to act as a pick to dig out the corn.

[inugrey]

I would guess as long as you can use the flat edge to follow the roundness of the corn it would be just as effective. I do not do it at home but I have watched my vet do it numerous times and it seems to come out with less force and more finesse if I have used bag balm or kerasal a few days prior to going in for the hull.

 

Good luck.

[EllenEveBaz]

If you haven't tried it already, don't forget the duct tape method.

[tbhounds]

You can learn to "hull" at home rather quickly- it's actually very easy to do. You need a dental root elevator-- can be purchased at a local medical supply store or like others have mentioned other tools can be used.

[Guest jayr2545]

Zola has corns on two of her paw pads. We have tried a number of things, including bag balm and the Murray apothecary cream. I am wondering about hulling one of the corns as its edges are clear and there is a ridge on one side that I can get a small edge into. For those who hull at home, what tool do you use? I've read the grassmere procedure; they say to use a dental extractor, which I don't have. Can I use a regular thin flathead?

 

Thank you!

 

Hi,

I just recently took my dog to his vet for 2 corns to be removed and he needed both lidocaine gel and then lidocaine injection to get through the procedure. After going through this 2 times now with my dog, I would NOT recommend some one trying this at home, especially not a vet! It took 2 of us to keep my dog calm and still while the vet extracted the corns. It only took him 5 minutes to do each one but he did use that elevator tool that you were talking about. The 2nd corn was much easier and less dramatic to remove than the first one however without the lidocaine gel the vet never would have gotten the 2nd one done. Find a good vet, the first one I went to knocked my dog out to do the procedure and after seeing Grassmere's site, I found a new vet (he's actually my parents' dogs' vet) who was more familiar with greyhounds and corns and he did a fantastic job....well worth the hour drive to his office. If you do choose to go ahead with doing it yourself, I would at least ask the vet if you could order the tool through them and ask about the lidocaine gel.

Good luck!

[rascalsmom]

Jack has had his corns hulled (by the vet) three times now. Our vet uses a small pair of hemostats, instead of the root elevator. She feels it puts less pressure on the corn than the root elevator does. She showed me how to do it, and while I have not done it YET, I know how. I just have to get the proper tools.

 

I, too, used the Murray Ave. cream, to no avail (used it for three months). Now I am using duct tape. The corns aren't gone--yet--but they are definitely 'different' now. I am now able to sort of peel off a layer of the corn, when I change the tape. It seems to be changing the texture of the corns, or something. I do use a small pair of scissors (like small embroidery scissors) to aid in getting the layer off.

[tbhounds]

Zola has corns on two of her paw pads. We have tried a number of things, including bag balm and the Murray apothecary cream. I am wondering about hulling one of the corns as its edges are clear and there is a ridge on one side that I can get a small edge into. For those who hull at home, what tool do you use? I've read the grassmere procedure; they say to use a dental extractor, which I don't have. Can I use a regular thin flathead?

 

Thank you!

 

Hi,

I just recently took my dog to his vet for 2 corns to be removed and he needed both lidocaine gel and then lidocaine injection to get through the procedure. After going through this 2 times now with my dog, I would NOT recommend some one trying this at home, especially not a vet! It took 2 of us to keep my dog calm and still while the vet extracted the corns. It only took him 5 minutes to do each one but he did use that elevator tool that you were talking about. The 2nd corn was much easier and less dramatic to remove than the first one however without the lidocaine gel the vet never would have gotten the 2nd one done. Find a good vet, the first one I went to knocked my dog out to do the procedure and after seeing Grassmere's site, I found a new vet (he's actually my parents' dogs' vet) who was more familiar with greyhounds and corns and he did a fantastic job....well worth the hour drive to his office. If you do choose to go ahead with doing it yourself, I would at least ask the vet if you could order the tool through them and ask about the lidocaine gel.

Good luck!

IMO if your vet needs to block the area he/she is hulling too deep.

[Guest BlueCrab]

Try the duct tape. I'm serious. We went thru 4 months of hulling, dremmeling, boots, soaking and Kerasolv every night with progressively worse limping, to the point where the vet wanted to laser open the offending pad to look for a foreign body.

 

We finally tried the duct tape on both front corns as a last, pre-surgical ressort, and it worked magic in less than one month. We're now - still - limp-free and corn-free. I'm pretty certain they will come back, but the duct tape will go on at the first sign.

 

You only need a tiny piece, only big enough to cover the corn itself. The dog won't mess with it. Really. Monitor it, change it every couple days when it gets ragged. After a couple weeks, you'll see the corn starting to pull off with the tape when you change it. Continue for a couple more days, and eventually you should be able to get a fingernail under it and pop it out.

 

Really. This works. Not kidding. Duct tape. And worst case, if it doesn't seem to work for you, the cost has been minimal and at least you can check another option off your list. But give it a couple weeks to try it.

Edited October 12, 2010 by BlueCrab

[Guest Fasave]

I use duct tape to for 24 -48 hours prior and then just use my finger nail to pick it out. I then use a dremel on low to smooth down the ring edge around the corn and then put the duct tape right back on. While my guys corns have never gone completely away, he is fine everywhere except on pavement. He uses his thera paw booties for those walks. I've learned over the years, it's more about maintenance than it is about finding a cure.

[Guest Ola]

IMO if your vet needs to block the area he/she is hulling too deep.

I would tend to agree with this. We've hulled Mayhem's corns at home a few times and while it's at times uncomfortable when there is pressure put on the corn during the process, most of the time he just keeps sleeping on his side while we're doing it. The other benefit of doing it at home is that you don't need to get it all in one shot, you can do it slowly over a few days.

 

I have tried the duct tape method also and I like it better than hulling for a small corn that looks like it won't be easy to hull but is causing him pain. I've found after about 2 days the tape is often falling off with walking around and being in the yard so just keep an eye on it so you can replace it.