ABSTRACT
Body’s natural protective response to any palmar or plantar skin irritation, is hyperkeratosis. Plantar skin of farmers or tribals who walk at least 10 miles (15 k.m.) a day, barefoot, on all sorts of uneven surfaces develop thick hyperkeratinized plantar skin. Similarly, we experience overnight thickening and hyperkeratoses on heads of metacarpals in our hands, if we perform strenuous and unaccustomed exercises like gardening. In the presence of normal sensations such hyperkeratosis is a protective mechanism.
