Diabetes is a disease that can affect every single part of your body. Uncontrolled diabetes, or diabetes that isn't brought into remission can increase your risk of diabetic-related complications including vision problems or blindness, kidney failure, stroke, or heart attack. Diabetes can damage your feet in multiple different ways, increasing your risk of chronic wounds or ulcers, and amputations. Seeing a foot doctor can help to lower these risks, and treat smaller problems before they lead to amputation. To continue to learn how diabetes can change your feet, read below.
Why You Should See a Foot Doctor For Diabetes
An amputation as a complication of diabetes is a "perfect storm" of any changes to your foot or leg itself, along with the changes that happen to your body with diabetes that aren't in remission. There is not one reason why diabetes can increase your risk of amputation, but several, and it's for these reasons that you should see a foot doctor for diabetes.
Diabetes can damage the nerves in your feet
High blood sugars over time can slowly damage the nerves. This is known as neuropathy. Diabetic neuropathy usually begins in the toes and feet. Symptoms or signs of neuropathy include numbness, tingling, or burning sensations.
Some people describe their neuropathy symptoms as feeling like they are wearing socks all of the time, even though they're barefoot.
Neuropathy can also cause chronic pain as well.
Neuropathy is a risk factor for amputation because if you can't feel your feet, or your sensation is just off, it is possible that you won't know if there is an injury to your foot like a cut, callus, scrape, blister, burn, or if you stepped on something.
These things, even if they are small, and seem like they're not a big deal, in the foot of a diabetic, they can lead to chronic wounds, infection, hospitalization, and even amputation.
In my years of being a foot doctor, I've unfortunately treated many diabetic patients with chronic wounds and even performed amputations on diabetic patients from injuries that to the untrained, an uninformed eye seemed "small" like burns from walking on a hot driveway during a Tucson summer, burns also from a space heater, cuts from getting pedicures or using electric callus shavers, blisters from toes and feet rubbing inside of shoes.
If you are diabetic and are having sensation changes in your feet, this is one of the most important reasons to see your foot doctor for diabetes. Diabetics with neuropathy should see a foot doctor once every 2 months. This is to be sure that any changes to your feet caused by neuropathy are caught and treated before they lead to an ulcer or amputation.
Diabetes can change the shape of your foot
Diabetes that isn't under tight control or remission can actually change the shape of your foot slowly over time. These changes are also due to nerve damage, or neuropathy caused by diabetes and high blood sugar.
Nerves send messages to your muscles to get them to contract, and this is how you move. If your nerves are damaged, especially by diabetes, these messages or signals aren't sent normally, as often, or at all. This causes muscles in your feet to not contract as often. Muscles that aren't used often, or at all shrink and become weaker, known as atrophy.
Your foot is a complex balance of muscles, tendons, and ligaments, all working in harmony ideally so that you can walk, stand, or even run. If muscles in your feet have atrophied because of diabetic neuroapthy, bones and joints, that were normally kept in place by strong muscles, now are easily displaced, leading to changes in your foot shape.
These foot shape changes are never good. Now your body has to attempt to function, to walk, and to stand on a foot that is out of alignment.
This new, changed shape to your foot is not designed to stand the daily forces of standing or walking in the same way that your original foot is.
Pressure points can develop, and in a diabetic, especially a diabetic with neuropathy, this is a recipe for disaster. These pressure points can develop into an ulcer, which can then get infected, and lead to amputation.
If you are diabetic and are noticing your foot starting to take on a different shape over time, see a local foot doctor for diabetes. This way, we can prescribe orthotics, or even diabetic shoes to help transfer a lot of this pressure away from these areas and help lower your risk significantly of developing an ulcer.
Diabetes can make the circulation to your feet worse
One of the biggest complications of diabetes on your feet is the impact on circulation. The high blood sugars due to diabetes cause blood vessels, specifically arteries, to become hard, and even plaque to build up inside of the arteries themselves. Both of these things make it much harder for blood to flow through arteries and reach your feet.
Any part of your body, that does not get the blood flow it needs will start to have problems. For feet that aren't getting enough blood flow, symptoms that can pop up are pain, cramping, and hair loss on the feet, toes, and legs.
As circulation problems in the feet continue on, pain can become chronic. Circulation problems in the feet can also lead to neuropathy.
Skin in the feet and legs that have poor circulation eventually becomes thinner and very shiny. This makes it a lot easier for breaks in the skin to happen, and wounds to start. These wounds a lot of times will have a much harder time to heal, because of the poor blood flow. Blood flow is a requirement for healing, and healing quickly.
Wounds that don't heal in a certain amount of time can become an ulcers.
Also due to the poor circulation to the feet, parts of your foot can start to die on their own, without any kind of skin injury beginning this process. This is known as gangrene. For the lower leg, gangrene usually starts in the tips of the toes most commonly, and even the heel.
Seeing a foot doctor for diabetes can help to monitor any circulation changes in your feet, recommend procedures to possibly improve blood flow, and lower your risk of ulcers, infection, and amputation.
Diabetes can make your skin extremely dry
The high blood sugar from diabetes also can make the skin of your feet extremely dry. One of the reasons for this again comes back to neuropathy and nerve damage to the feet from diabetes.
Nerves also send signals to your sweat and oil glands in your feet. If these are damaged, these signals aren't sent as often, if at all, and this can lead to oil or sweat not being made by these glands in your feet.
This can cause problems over time because if your skin isn't being moisturized properly by oil and sweat, the skin can become extremely dry, making it more prone to cracks or fissures, and also ulcers.
Dry feet from diabetes is one often overlooked, but important reason to see a foot doctor.
Key Takeaways: Why You Should See a Foot Doctor For Diabetes
Diabetes can cause so many changes to your feet, which increases your risk of developing an ulcer or gangrene, infection, and eventually amputation. Seeing a foot doctor for diabetes helps lower your risk of these complications happening, and can treat any foot issues related to diabetes before they become bigger problems.
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Are you looking for a podiatrist in Phoenix? My name is Dr. Tarr, and I am the owner of Direct Podiatry Arizona in Tempe. To view my available appointment times, click here.