Medicine: Vitamin A for Corns

TIME

September 14, 1942 12:00 AM GMT-4

An Oregon nurse, 37, had corns on her toes since she was 15. Then she began taking large doses of vitamin A—a 100,000-unit capsule daily at bedtime. In three weeks most of her corns disappeared; in two months they were all gone. This surprising cure was reported by Dr. John Vidalin Straumfjord of Astoria, Ore. in Northwest Medicine. Dr. Straumfjord’s specialty is studying the importance of vitamin A, which abounds in the livers of Pacific Coast sharks, cod livers, and carrots.

Dr. Straumfjord thinks the cause of corns is more complicated than bad shoes. Vitamin A deficiencies are known sometimes to produce tough or calloused skin. Trouble is that vitamin A, unlike vitamins of the B-group, is not soluble in water and thus is not readily diffused through the body’s tissues. The pressure of tight shoes cuts down circulation to irritated areas, deprives them of adequate vitamin A and produces corns—even though the body as a whole may not be A-deficient. Dr. Straumfjord has found that large doses of vitamin A usually get rid of corns even though shoe irritation remains. Results sometimes appear within a few weeks, more often it takes several months or even two or three years.

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