7 Tips to Take Care of Your Feet in Diabetes

Diabetes or increased sugar levels in blood, if not controlled, can lead to many complications. You might be aware about problems related to the functioning of heart and kidney, but what may come as a shock is that your feet also gets impacted by increased insulin or glucose levels in blood.

Type of foot problems faced by diabetics

Uncontrolled diabetes can impact your foot in two ways:

1. Diabetic neuropathy: High level of blood glucose can damage your nerves, impacting the feeling of sensation. Because of this you might not feel heat, cold, or pain. As there is no sensation, a simple cut can also lead to many complications, since it often goes unnoticed.

2. Peripheral vascular disease (PVD): In this condition, the blood flow is affected because of narrowing of arteries, this can delay the process of wound healing. To heal a wound, you need to have a good blood flow, but in this case because of PVD blood flow is slow.

How to check if there is any problem in feet?

If you are suffering from diabetes, you should take extra care of your foot. Checking for these early signs can help prevent any complications later:

• Dry skin

• Fungal infection

• Ingrown nails

• Calluses

• Corns

• Blisters

• Foot ulcers

• Hammertoes

• Warts

Tips to prevent diabetic foot

A diabetic patient should do the following things for an effective management and prevention of diabetes:

1. Examine your feet daily, to check for any kind of cut or wound or above signs.

2. Use a water-based moisturizer every day, this will ensure that your skin doesn’t stay dry and will also prevent it from cracking.

3. Wear cotton or wool socks and avoid elastic socks, as they may impact the circulation of blood.

4. Always cut your nails with a nail cutter, avoid using any sharp object like scissors.

5. Wear comfortable shoes, that fit you properly especially, if you have flat feet.

6. Exercising daily improves the blood circulation and also helps in controlling diabetes.

7. Avoid tobacco and alcohol, as they can damage the blood vessels. Damaged blood vessels can increase your risk of suffering from diabetic foot.

Other than following these tips, it is also important to maintain healthy blood sugar levels, so that the complications can be avoided.