7 Diabetic Foot Care
Diabetes affects the foot in many ways. Even a small wound or cut can produce significant consequences. Diabetes is known to cause nerve damage to your lower extremities and can take most of the feeling in your feet. Diabetes also affects your blood flow to the feet thus making it harder to heal any injury and predispose the patient to resistant infections. Diabetes can cause impairment to nerve function and circulation and can lead to an ulceration which can become infected and put you at risk for amputation. These are some of the guidelines from the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgery for proper diabetic foot care and management:
- Inspect your feet Daily
- Wash your feet in warm water (not hot)
- When bathing your feet be gentle
- Moisturize your feet daily but avoid going in between your toes
- Cut your nails carefully
- Never treat your own wounds, corns or calluses as this may cause greater injury and infection
- Wear clean, dry socks all the time
- Avoid wearing the wrong type of socks
- Wear socks to bed
- Shake out your shoes and feel the inside before putting them on
- Keep your feet warm and dry
- Always wear something on your feet and avoid barefoot walking
- Keep your blood sugar levels under control
- Avoid smoking as this causes impairment to blood flow
- See your podiatrist, endocrinologist and primary care doctor several times a year