Diabetic Foot Care

Your nerves tell you what types of sensations you are feeling, whether you are feeling something that is hot, cold or painful. The nerves control movement in your body and also control functions like breathing, heart rate and sweating. We typically don’t think of pain as a good thing, but pain tells your body something is wrong. For example, if you were to step on a sharp object, the pain signal would be sent to the brain and in response to this pain, you would pick your foot up, off the sharp object.

In diabetics, the nerves can lose their ability to sense pain. There are many theories for why this happens:

• The blood supply is decreased to the nerves, causing dysfunction.
• The increase in blood sugar causes malfunction.
• The sugar metabolism within the nerve causes swelling and results in compression of the nerves.
• There are losses of specific enzymes that are needed to enable nerve function.
• There are more free radicals causing oxidative damage within the nerve as a result of the increased sugar.

Regardless, the result is the same. There is a loss of sensation in the feet and sometimes in the hands. This is called Diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Diabetics develop ulcerations because of the lack of feeling in their feet due to diabetic peripheral neuropathy. The ulcerations don’t heal because of the constant pressure and rubbing on the ulcer or because of poor circulation. For this reason, treating diabetic ulcers is difficult. Preventing diabetic ulcers is not.

Take these steps to help prevent diabetic foot complications:

1. Check your feet everyday! This is an absolute necessity. If you can’t reach your feet, have a friend or family member check your feet. If needed, put a mirror on the floor and put your foot over it to look for cuts, scraps, bruises, openings or areas of irritation. Make sure you check between your toes. Look for moist areas, white areas or red areas. Look for anything unusual. If you see something unusual, make an appointment with your podiatrist.
2. Don’t walk around barefoot. Needles, tacks, broken glass, splinters of wood can be hidden in the carpet, even if you vacuum regularly. You can puncture a foot without sensation. Punctures can go unnoticed and develop into ulceration or infections.
3. Watch out for folds in your socks. Rough seams and small folds in the socks can cause areas of irritation that may lead to skin breakdown and ulceration.
4. Don’t be a victim of fashion. High fashion shoes usually lead to a high number of problems in the feet. Make sure the shoes are wide enough. Don’t buy shoes that are too wide or too long which can cause a lot of slipping. Pick shoes that are soft and flexible and allow for cushioning on the top and sides, but are rigid on the sole. Make sure they don’t fold in half. Shoes should be FOOT SHAPED.
5. Check your bath water with your hand before you put your foot in it. The temperature your foot feels is much different from the temperature your hand feels when you have neuropathy. Make sure to check the temperature with your wrist. This will be much more accurate than testing the water with your foot.
6. Avoid medicated corn pads. Medicated corn pads contain acid and can be dangerous to diabetics. Yes, it will remove the corn, but there is a good chance it will also remove all the surrounding skin. What you will be left with is an ulceration. Check foot products you buy to make sure they are safe for diabetics.
7. Dry between your toes. Increased moisture between your toes can lead to the skin breaking down or foot fungus. This can eventually lead to an ulcer between the toes. Ulcers between the toes go unnoticed for longer periods of time and they can be difficult to treat.
8. Know your risk. Some diabetics do not have any loss of sensation or circulation in their feet. They are not at risk of developing an ulceration and have a low risk of an infection becoming a problem. Others have severe neuropathy or circulation problems and don’t know it. It’s important to know your risk.
9. Do not trim your own toenails, calluses or corns. If you have a loss of sensation or blood supply then have your podiatrist trim your corns, calluses or toenails for you every two months.

As a general rule Diabetics should have a vascular and neurological assessment every 6 months by a podiatrist.