How does diabetes affect your feet?

There are several ways diabetes affects the health of your feet, and this illustrates the importance of using diabetic foot care measures to keep you safe and reduce the risk of serious medical problems.

Diabetes can lead to dry skin, frequent calluses, neuropathy, poor circulation, and diabetic foot ulcers. These various issues can be intertwined and increase the risk of dangerous complications like Charcot foot and potential limb amputation.

Neuropathy (nerve damage) affects your feet in various ways, including impairing your sweat glands. This deprives feet of moisture and results in dry skin. When skin becomes excessively dry, it can crack and fissure, which increases infection risk. Diabetes impedes your autoimmune system’s ability to fight infections, so even minor ones can become major problems in time.

With your body unable to fight against infection, tissue breakdown (foot ulcers) can lead to gangrene. This condition of tissue death is irreversible and will often require amputation to prevent it from spreading into the body.

If you have diabetes, it is essential you have a foot care plan in place. The Kansas Foot Center can help with this, so contact us today. Either call (316) 283-4330 or schedule an appointment with any of our Wichita, Newton, or Emporia, KS offices online.