Painful fissures can form in the thickened skin on the heels. To reduce the occurrence of these cracks and alleviate the pain, it’s essential to regularly remove hard skin using a file or pumice stone and apply moisturizing cream. Cracked heels can also result from a bacterial infection of the skin on the soles of the feet, known as pitted keratolysis. This condition leads to the development of small, round pits in the skin, which eventually merge to create the cracks.