The following is a series of pictures illustrating how many corns can be peeled out of their "bed" and removed in a quick, painless and bloodless procedure. 

PLEASE NOTE: this procedure should ONLY be done by your veterinarian. 

NOTE TO VETERINARIANS: this procedure is intended to remove only the hard, inert core of the corn.   If you are doing this on an anesthetized patient PLEASE do not try to take advantage of the anesthetic and "dig deeper" to get the root.  This will create a more painful, possibly infected toe, and it won't resolve the recurrence!

	A flat tipped root elevator acts as a spatula.  The size of the root elevator will depend on the size of the corn.		The Greyhound should need minimal restraint, no sedation or pain medication and remains in a standing position.
	Gently identify the margins of the hard cornified portion of the corn.  Use the root elevator to begin to separate the hard center core from the softer surrounding pad.		Slowly work the root elevator around the perimeter of the core.  With a careful rocking movement, follow the shape of the core.
	Care must be taken not to drive the root elevator too deeply into the pad. Continue the twisting movement until the sides of the core are released.		Once the sides are free, angle the root elevator so you are now separating the base of the core. The spatula tip is now almost parallel to the surface of the pad.
	Any point of attachment must be freed.		The core is almost free from the pad.
	The last small area of attachment may need to be snipped with scissors.		The result is an empty corn bed.  The painful core is removed. Note there is no bleeding.

This page last updated 04/30/2006

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