If you have diabetes it’s crucial to have regular foot exams, at least every six months performed by a doctor or a foot care professional. Foot exams can often reveal lesions that haven’t completely healed or are infected.
In order to be sure your feet are healthy you can do daily inspections at home by yourself.
Look for any signs of possible trouble such as bumps, bruises, sores, cracked skin, patches of thin or tiny skin. If there are any potential signs of trouble, immediately consult your healthcare professional.
To summarize the few key points to preventing diabetic foot ulcers:
- Patient Education
- Toenail and foot skin care
- Appropriate footwear selection
- Proactive surgery treatments
- Be active
Patient Education
The first and maybe most important factor in preventing foot ulcers is patient education. Constantly and continuously consulting with a doctor or physician will reduce the risk of getting a foot ulcer by paying attention to all the details the patient can’t think of himself. Doctors can inform patients of the risk factors that lead up to foot ulcer and help prevent them.
Toenail and foot skin care
Diabetic patients can have nervous system dysfunctions and because of this, a patient’s skin is much more prone to dryness which can lead up to loss of elasticity and formation of calluses at the site of the healed wound. Wash your feet every day with lukewarm water and a gentle soap. After washing always use a moisturizer to keep your feed hydrated.
Appropriate footwear selection
You must be careful when choosing your footwear. It’s a good idea to keep your foot tighter in order to prevent the inside of the show from rubbing against your foot and causing ulcers, but they should be kept loose enough in order to keep your comfortable.
Proactive surgery treatments
If a foot ulcer fails to heal there may be some underlying problem. The most common issues related to the foot ulcer failing to heal may be an underlying bone deformity, a blood flow problem, or an infection deep in the foot could all relate to the foot ulcer not healing. That’s why proactive surgery treatments can be a great prevention measure.
Be active
In order to keep yourself healthy, taking a short walk every day can increase blood flow, and also helps with weight related problems.
This is just a short list of what you can immediately apply to your lifestyle in order to reduce the risk of foot ulcers. However, nothing can replace a visit to your doctor or physician. Remember to do constant check-ups!
