Contents:
- Medical Video: Mayo Clinic Minute: 5 steps to diabetic foot care
- Amputation of diabetic foot
- Triggers foot amputation in diabetics
- 1. Infection and ulcer (wound) that does not heal
- 2. Eyes of fish and calluses
- 3. Dry and cracked skin
- 4. Nail abnormalities
- 5. Hammer and bunion toes
- 6. Charcot Feet
- 7. Poor blood flow
Medical Video: Mayo Clinic Minute: 5 steps to diabetic foot care
People with diabetes are prone to foot problems, often due to two complications of diabetes, namely nerve damage (neuropathy) and poor blood circulation. Neuropathy causes loss of feeling in your feet (numbness), it can eliminate your ability to feel pain and discomfort, so you may not detect injury or irritation. Poor circulation in your feet reduces your ability to recover, you will even have difficulty protecting small wounds from infection. With diabetes, mild foot problems can turn into serious complications that require leg amputation.
Amputation of diabetic foot
People with diabetes are far more likely to experience leg amputations compared to others. How did it happen? Many people with diabetes have peripheral arterial disease (PAD) which makes blood flow towards the legs a little. In addition, many people with diabetes have neurological diseases that can make the feet numb.
This problem makes the feet easy to get boils and infections that can cause amputation. The most common amputations for diabetes are amputation of the feet, toes and lower legs. Even so, most amputations can be prevented by doing routine maintenance and using the right footwear.
So, take good care of your feet and visit your health care immediately. Ask about what shoes can be used for diabetics. Always follow your doctor's advice when treating boils or other problems. One of the biggest threats to your feet is smoking. Smoking affects small blood vessels. This can cause blood flow to the legs to decrease and make the wound recover in a long time. Therefore, most diabetics who need amputation are smokers.
Triggers foot amputation in diabetics
1. Infection and ulcer (wound) that does not heal
Ulcer is a pain in the skin that can lead to bone. Because poor circulation and neuropathy in the legs, wounds or abrasions can easily turn into infected boils and will not heal. This is a serious complication that is common in diabetics and this can also cause the loss of your feet, feet, and life.
2. Eyes of fish and calluses
When neuropathy is present, you cannot say if your shoes are causing pressure, causing fish eyes and calluses. Fish eyes and calluses must be treated immediately, or they can develop into ulcers.
3. Dry and cracked skin
Lack of circulation and neuropathy can make your skin dry. This may appear to be harmless, but dry skin can cause cracks that may become injured and cause infection.
4. Nail abnormalities
Ingrown toenails and fungal infections can attack without your knowledge because of loss of feeling in the feet (numbness). If it is not treated immediately, it will cause an infection.
5. Hammer and bunion toes
Nerve damage that affects the muscles can cause muscle weakness and loss of leg tone, resulting in hammer and bunion fingers. If left untreated, this defect can cause ulcers.
6. Charcot Feet
This is a complex leg deformity. It develops as a result of loss of sensation and no detection of bone damage which leads to destruction of the soft tissue of the foot. Because of neuropathy, the pain of the fracture goes unnoticed, and the patient will usually continue to walk even though in fact the bone has broken, this causes worse foot conditions.
7. Poor blood flow
In diabetes, blood vessels below the knee often narrow and limit blood flow. This can prevent healing of wounds and make the death of foot tissue.
Although the various diseases above can avoid foot amputation with various preventive treatments and appropriate treatment of infections and complications, there are times when amputations are still needed to eliminate infected tissue, so that it will save other limbs and even your life.
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