Worldwide, diabetes has surged from 200 million cases in 1990 to 830 million in 2022. An increasingly Western diet and lifestyle habits are probably responsible for the huge leap in this blood-sugar-regulation disease.
In addition, mortality rates have increased since 2000. Although you can control, and even reverse, type 2 diabetes with dietary and lifestyle changes, and can manage type 1 diabetes with diet and exercise, the disease continues to affect more and more people.
No matter what type of diabetes you have, you must monitor your blood glucose levels and follow your doctor’s diet and exercise prescriptions. If you have type 1 diabetes, you might have to take insulin.
While your feet may not seem to have much to do with your disease, a podiatrist should be part of your diabetes care team. Women and men with diabetes have more than twice the risk of developing a serious complication called peripheral artery disease (PAD) that can lead to amputation.
At Texas Heart and Vein Multispecialty Group, our expert podiatrists offer diabetic foot care to ensure your feet stay safe. We recommend regular visits to your podiatrist at one of our offices located in Greater Heights, Pearland Market, and throughout the Houston, Texas, area.
Why should you invest in diabetic foot care? Following are five important reasons.
If you have diabetes, high levels of blood glucose may have damaged the blood vessels and nerves that service your legs and feet, which can result in peripheral neuropathy. If you have peripheral neuropathy, you may not be able to feel pain in your feet.
You could step on a piece of glass, a nail, or another foreign object and not even notice it. Without regular daily self-checks as well as a regular trip to your podiatrist, you could end up ignoring these injuries to the point where they become infected and even gangrenous.
Especially if you’re overweight, it may be difficult to check the entirety of your foot. At your diabetic foot exam, we thoroughly inspect your entire foot, including between your toes, to ensure that you don’t have any wounds, foreign objects, or other trauma or injury that could endanger your foot health.
As many as half of the people with diabetes also have PAD. When you have PAD, your arteries have become narrowed by plaque made up of cholesterol, so your feet don’t get sufficient blood flow, with its oxygen and nutrients.
Those wounds that you might not even feel can grow and fester. Your circulation isn’t strong enough to flush out toxins or supply your injured skin cells with the materials they need to rebuild and heal.
Diabetes-related foot injuries can therefore lead to gangrene. If you have gangrene, the flesh in the affected area starts to die. Diabetes-related PAD is the No. 1 cause of lower limb amputation in the U.S., outside of acute injuries.
If your podiatrist identifies wounds or ulcers on your feet, they treat it right away to avoid complications. That’s why wound care is one of the services we may provide during your diabetic foot exam.
Our diabetic wound care services help your slow-healing wounds heal faster. We clean and debride the wound at each visit to accelerate healing. We may also recommend treatments such as:
We also redress your wound and teach you the techniques you need to keep your wound safe, sterile, and healing between visits.
Proper foot hygiene and toenail cutting are an essential part of diabetic foot care. However, these may be difficult to provide on your own, especially if you’re overweight or have mobility issues.
We clean your feet and trim your toenails straight across. A straight edge on your nail is essential to preventing ingrown toenails. Although an ingrown nail may be a minor problem to a healthy individual, if you have diabetes, an ingrown toenail could lead to an infected, slow-healing wound that might become gangrenous.
We ensure that your shoes fit properly and have enough room for your feet to function optimally. If necessary, we prescribe customized orthotics to keep your feet in perfect alignment.
Do you have diabetes? Give your feet the care they need by booking a diabetic foot care appointment today by phone or online at the office nearest you.
