Diabetic Foot Care Q & A
How Does Diabetes Affect My Feet?
Diabetes is a systemic and chronic disease that casts a wide detrimental effect over your health, that most often affects your feet. When your body is unable to properly control the level of sugar in your bloodstream, your circulation will be compromised, which can have dire consequences for your feet.
With diabetes, your circulatory system has to overcome distance, gravity, and narrowed arteries due to glucose buildup in order to circulate blood to your feet. Without the proper circulation in your lower extremities, which is called peripheral artery disease (PAD), you run the risk of permanent nerve damage at the hands of peripheral neuropathy.
All of this sets the stage for slow-healing wounds in your feet and ankles, which can lead to serious and life-changing complications, such as amputation.
Thankfully, there’s much you and your podiatric specialist at Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center can do to prevent these serious complications.
What’s Involved in Diabetic Foot Care?
The podiatrists at Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center take special care when it comes to their diabetic patients and offer a wide range of services that emphasize prevention. Through vigilant monitoring of your feet and early intervention, your podiatrist can protect the health of your feet.
The diabetic foot care at Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center can include everything from trimming your toenails to expert management of slow-healing ulcers.
What Diabetic Foot Care Should I Provide on My Own?
As important as the care is at Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center, the care you provide your feet at home is equally as imperative. To keep your feet as healthy as possible when you have diabetes, the podiatrists recommend the following.
- Check your feet every day for any signs of a problem
- Wash and dry your feet daily
- Never go barefoot, especially in public areas
- Always keep your feet dry
- Wear comfortable shoes with orthotics and roomy toe boxes
- Trim your toenails carefully — straight across and not too short
Your vigilance at home, combined with the care you receive at Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center, should help you safeguard the health of your feet for years to come.
To learn more about diabetic foot care, call Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center or request a consultation using the online booking feature.