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"It was one of the most promising press releases to ever make its way to my inbox: &amp;quot;Prevent perils of wearing high heels with Topricin Foot Therapy Cream,&amp;quot; the subject line read, and inside, it promised that this miracle product would save my throbbing tootsies from the torture I regularly inflict on myself with four-plus-inch heels. There was only one way to find out if the stuff actually worked... Here&amp;#x27;s the claim the Topricin folks made: The medicated cream &amp;quot;targets ankle and foot pain and contains eleven regulated homeopathic biomedicines medicines that naturally support and assist the body by helping the subcutaneous skin layers of the feet to drain toxins and excess fluids from the tissues which increases blood flow and helps heal the damage that is causing the pain. Apply Topricin Foot Therapy Cream to feet before strutting out in heels to help reduce pain and injury, as well as after wearing heels to relieve any burning, throbbing nerve pain in the feet. As an added plus, Topricin Foot Therapy Cream treats dry, cracked skin of the feet.&amp;quot; I needed a translation, so I rang up Dr. Suzanne Levine, a prominent podiatrist in Manhattan, and asked her to describe the product in a bit more detail. She had her doubts about its effectiveness: &amp;quot;It&amp;#x27;s essentially a counter-irritant,&amp;quot; she told me. &amp;quot;While that helps with pain a bit, I don&amp;#x27;t think it has the absorption you&amp;#x27;d need for it to really make a difference. When you&amp;#x27;re trying to get absorption on the bottom of the foot, where the skin is very thick and callused, you need an agent to facilitate that, which this doesn&amp;#x27;t seem to have. Like with all homeopathics, the amount of the ingredient is miniscule. If you were to soak in hot water first, it may open up the pores a bit and that could help, but I wouldn&amp;#x27;t call it a miracle treatment.&amp;quot; Lou Paradise, founder and chief of research at Topical BioMedics, which created Topricin, begged to differ. He said that &amp;quot;the molecular size of the medicines in the product go through the skin barrier to the underlying soft tissue where the pain originates.&amp;quot; Eternal optimist that I am, I slathered my feet in Topricin, strapped on my most torturous pair of Christian Louboutins, and headed out to the NYC streets. This particular pair were what I call &amp;quot;taxi shoes&amp;quot;--walking from the curb to the club and back is about all I can handle in &amp;#x27;em--and after about six blocks, I was feeling the usual burn. But after a few minutes, the sharp pain I usually get from the same shoes kind of subsided into a duller, slightly more tolerable feeling. I lasted through all of my evening work events, about three hours in total, before I made it through my front door in my usual about-to-collapse state of foot numbness. I went for round two, first soaking my feet in hot water, as Dr. Levine recommended, then giving myself a foot massage with another dose of Topricin (since it&amp;#x27;s homeopathic, there is no limit to how many applications you can use or what other medications it can be used in conjunction with). Truth be told, the soreness that usually lasts until I wake up the next morning started to dissipate pretty quickly. Of course, as Dr. Levine tells it, &amp;quot;It&amp;#x27;s hard to judge how effective any product like this is, because pain is so subjective. The active ingredient in most homeopathic products is water, but of course there is always that mental thing where if you think you&amp;#x27;re using something to relieve your pain, maybe some of it really does go away.&amp;quot; So my relief was quite possibly in my head, which was totally fine with me, because, well, it was still relief. I&amp;#x27;ve never been one of those crystal-carrying, wheatgrass juice-drinking kind of believers, but in this case, if it lets me wear my stilettos with a little less pain, I guess I can be! Score your own tube now at their website, then tell us...what do you think? Have you ever tried Topricin or any other topical pain relievers to make wearing high heels seem a little less stressful? How do you cope with foot pain when you&amp;#x27;re in your most painful shoes? And do you believe in homeopathic cures like this? Discuss! PLUS... - One doctor&amp;#x27;s prescription for curing a high heel hangover AND! - Snag this weird little trick for making walking in stilettos easier More Ways to Get Glamour: Chat with celebs, VIP fashion stars, beauty pros and more on our Facebook page! Visit Facebook.com/glamour for this month&amp;amp;#8217;s schedule Get the latest fashion updates via Twitter on @glamour_fashion Check out our chic Tumblr! Read Glamour magazine on your iPad&amp;amp;#8212;print subscribers, it&amp;amp;#8217;s now part of your subscription plan! Like freebies? Enter the latest Glamour sweepstakes! Sign up for our fashion and beauty newsletters to get easy style tips (it&amp;#x27;ll make your inbox 10x sexier, we promise). And, did you know you can read glamour.com on your smart phone?! It&amp;amp;#8217;s the ultimate boredom buster. Photos: courtesy of Topricin; Istockphoto Want even more STF? Follow us on Twitter! 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