I had this a couple of years ago. It is due to extreme dryness of the skin, then no moisture and so it cracks and causes really bad pain.

It is so painful - the day it happened to me I staggered home from work and booked an appointment with a chiropodist who scraped all the dead skin away, back down to "normal" skin. Then the cracks were able to heal.
That very dry skin is effectively "dead" and the cracks will not heal.

So, if you don't want to go to the Chiropodist - get a pumice stone or one of the special "Cheese Grater" type foot rubs, any chemist will have these. It may take a couple of days, but rub away all the dead skin, after each session put loads of moisturiser on - it does not have to be anything special - the chiropodist told me that hand cream is as good as anything. Then once the hard skin is all gone, the cracks are able to heal up.

Then once you are all cured, remember to moisturise your feet every night.

Hope you are able to sort it out soon.

Thanks! I know the sort of thing you mean to remove dead skin.
I don't have cream in the house of any kind apart from medicinal ones such as Vaselene and Savlon and Germolene so I can start from scratch with that one!

Any of those creams should be fine - they are all going to be moisturising and certainly won't do any harm.
Otherwise I am sure any type of moisturising cream will be absolutely fine.
The chiropodist said not to spend money on the expensive foot creams because they were not really necessary. Having said that I do have a lovely tube of Burts Bees coconut foot cream - it is so rich and smells lovely.

Get scraping !!

The Australian stuff is the best and it's called Flexitol Heel Balm. Again you may not be able to use on the bleeding parts but perhaps try the plasters with the Aqua Silver Healing made by Elastoplast for the worst parts.

2 doors down from my office is a foot care centre and they sell the Flexitol Heel balm along with some other creams. It works well as it contains urea which is best for cracked heels.

I'm obsessed with my feet as I can't bear to see people with cracked heels wearing sandals etc, so always have a foot spa, wear foot socks in bed after applying deep moisturising cream etc.

I would suggest a trip to a chiropodist though check or ask for recommendations as they vary hugely.
The one near my office does home calls but you can also visit. I took Mum once and she was there for over an hour! Foot bath, massage, exfoliate, nails, callouses the lot. He gave her two little thingies to put between her toes which cost £3.50 and the actual treatment cost £23 which I think was good value as have seen chiropodists visiting my oldies for about 10minutes and charge £18+ the sheisters.

P.S In case anyone asks, as a carer the only thing we can't touch/cut are people's toenails. This is because we are not trained and could cause problems, esp if someone had diabetes. Worse case scenario they could lose a leg!

I really like the Flexitol and it smells lovely. I can't go to a chiropodist as I absolutely HATE my feet being touched. I may kick him to death! Can't even have a pedicure

when my feet are very dry and hurt i use sudacream for a few days and it works wonders, i now use it every 3 days if they start to feel dry and they dont hurt any more. hope it heals soon hun thinking of you xx

I would be sick all over the person who tried to touch my toes or my toenails The thought of a pedicure makes me cringe and in fact my toes are curling now just thinking about it. EEEUUURRRGGHHH

I can paint my own toenails though. I just can't let anyone else near my feet! OH learned very early in our relationship to stay away from them

I cringe when I am painting my own toe nails, every brush stroke makes me feel ill !!!

OH knows what to do if he wants me to get out of bed and make the tea !!!