10 Diabetes Skin Care Tips to Protect Your Feet
Diabetes can mean double trouble for your feet. First, diabetes can reduce blood flow to your feet, depriving your feet of oxygen and nutrients. This makes it more difficult for blisters, sores, and cuts to heal. And second, the diabetic nerve damage called peripheral neuropathy can cause numbness in your feet. When you cannot feel cuts and blisters, you are more likely to get sores and infections. If you do not notice or treat the sores, they can become deeply infected, and lead to amputation. A sad reality: having a toe, foot, or lower leg surgically removed is ten times more likely in people with diabetes. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy can also cause sharp pain in your feet. You may become excruciatingly sensitive to the lightest touch, like the sheets on your bed. Fortunately, a little touch-loving-care goes a long way in preventing foot problems from diabetes.
Diabetic Nerve Pain: 10 Foot Care Tips to Protect Yourself
Foot Care Tip 1. Check Both Feet Daily. Look over both feet carefully every day, and be sure you check between all of your toes. Blisters and infections can start between your toes, and with diabetic neuropathy, you may not feel them until they have become irritated or infected. If a physical challenge keeps you from checking your own feet, ask a family member to help.
Foot Care Tip 2. Wash With Warm -Not Hot- Water. Wash both of your feet briefly each day with warm -not hot- water. You may not be able to feel heat with your feet, so test the water with your hands first. Avoid soaking too long in water, since waterlogged sores have a harder time healing. Dry your feet right away, and remember to dry gently between all of your toes.
Foot Care Tip 3. Make Sure Your Shoes Fit Well. It is an investment worth making. Even the slightest rubbing or misfit shoe can cause a blister that turns into a sore that becomes infected and never heals. Buy better-fitting shoes, or try different socks, even at the most minor signs of redness or irritation, since you may not be able to feel when it is getting worse. Before buying or putting on the shoes check your shoes for rough seams, sharp edges or other objects that could hurt your feet. And break your shoes in gradually.
Foot Care Tip 4. Skip The Barefoot Look. Always wear shoes or slippers. And always wear socks with your shoes, since leather, plastics, and manmade shoe materials can irritate your skin and quickly bring on blisters. While you might prefer the look of hose, nylon knee-highs, or thin socks, you may find that these do not give your toes or heels enough protection. Wear thicker socks to pad your feet and cushion any calluses or sore spots.
Foot Care Tip 5. Speak Up. Nerve damage can be unpredictable. Tell your physician about any changes in sensation in your toes, feet, or legs. Speak up if you notice pain, tingling, a pins-and-needles feeling, numbness, or any other unusual signs even if it seems trivial to you. There is nothing small-potatoes about a potential foot amputation.
Foot Care Tip 6. Stay Soft But Dry. Your skin may be dry and cracked because of high glucose levels, and cracked skin means it is easier for bacteria to get under your skin and harder for infections to heal. Use a small amount of skin lotion daily, but be sure your feet feel dry -not damp or sticky - afterwards. Try not to get the lotion in between your toes. Keep your toenails trimmed and filed smooth to avoid ingrown toenails. You may find it easier to trim your nails after using lotion, when your cuticles are softer. Use a pumice stone after showering or bathing to softly file corns or calluses.
Foot Care Tip 7. Try Non-Impact Exercise. Swimming, cycling, yoga, and tai chi are increasingly popular ways to exercise with minimal impact on your feet. Talk with your physician before starting an exercise program.
Foot Care Tip 8. Fix Bunions, Corns, And Hammertoes. If your big toe slants sharply in toward your other toes, with a big bump on the knuckle of your big toe, you have got a classic bunion. Corns are spots of thick, rough skin, where the tissue builds up on toes constantly barraged by too much rubbing or pressure. A buckled-under toe, called a hammertoe, can result from muscle weakness caused by diabetic nerve damage. All of these make it hard to fit shoes comfortably. But a good podiatrist can help you fix these problems and take better care of your feet.
Foot Care Tip 9. Consider Fitted Orthotics. A podiatrist can also fit you with shoe inserts called orthotics to support your feet if you have diabetic nerve pain or the muscles have become weak from nerve damage. If pain or weakness is so severe that it is too painful or even impossible to walk, a foot brace or orthopedic shoes might help. A podiatrist is your best source for these devices.
Foot Care Tip 10. Control Your Blood Sugar. The best treatment for nerve pain, ultimately, is to manage your diabetes well. In fact, a major study by the American Diabetes Association in 2006 showed that strict blood glucose control with intensive insulin therapy lowered the chances of having peripheral neuropathy symptoms - tingling, burning, and pain - by 64 percent. While you cannot control whether or not you get diabetic nerve pain, you can help control your glucose levels with diet, exercise, and mediations if you need them.
Your feet are your source of independence or at least its foundation. Give your feet a little tenderness, a little touch loving care, each day. And be sure to have your physician take a good look at your feet during each of your diabetes checkups, in case you missed anything.