Diabetic foot care

By Hayley Iosue, DPM Foot & Ankle Specialists of Ohio

For the 37 million Americans—about one in 10 people—who suffer from diabetes, special care should be taken to treat several dangerous and debilitating issues that can occur. One of the most common ailments caused by this disease is neuropathy, or nerve damage.

Patients can lose sensation or have abnormal sensation in their feet due to neuropathy. This makes them more prone to injury and damage to their insensate foot. Neuropathy can also lead to deformities in the feet, creating a greater risk for the diabetic patient.

We tell patients with diabetes, especially our high risk patients with neuropathy and vascular disease, to check their feet daily and have diabetic foot checks a few times per year. They should be extra careful when trimming toenails. Keeping the skin moisturized helps as well.

Poor circulation is another potentially dangerous risk of diabetes, as it can cause the blood vessels to occlude and harden leading to delayed wound healing and ulcers on the feet and legs. To manage the ulcers, we keep the wound bed clean, getting rid of any non-viable tissue, apply appropriate dressings and try to offload the pressure around the ulcer.

One way to offload pressure in diabetic feet would be diabetic shoes. Our diabetic shoe program ensures patients get the best fit with customized inserts that can be changed every few months. Insurance covers one pair of shoes per year.

We recommend people who might be pre-diabetic as well as diabetics keep their blood sugar in control through medications and diet modification.

Foot & Ankle Specialists of Ohio is located at 325 Center Street in Chardon. Same-day and next-day appointments are always available. You can request an appointment online or by calling 440-306-5359. The website is FASOhio.com.