Diabetic foot:symptoms, causes and prevention
Written by:The diabetic foot is a set of pathological alterations that encompasses both the lack of blood flow in the limb, and the injury of the nerve cords that transmit sensitivity to the foot, facilitating the degeneration of bones and skin and subcutaneous tissue infections with injuries and ulcers very difficult to treat on the fingers and the soles of the feet.
symptom
Decreased circulation in the arteries causes the foot to receive less oxygen and nutrients, thus predisposing it to a decrease in neurological sensitivity, to deformed lesions, wounds and ulcers that become easily infected.
In a first phase, there is an alteration of skin color and a decrease in superficial touch. The patient also usually complains of pain in the calves when walking or pain in the foot during the night rest that is relieved when walking. Joint and bone pain in the sole of the foot may also occur due to degeneration or infection of the foot bones.
Injuries
After the phase of alteration of the coloration, that goes from the pallor to the chronic reddening of the skin, it also observes disorders in the nails, since these thicken or they fall and present / display small injuries under her and ulcers of diverse types that, in turn, cause fistulas to the bone. In this phase, the lack of response to treatments causes amputations more or less extensive.
Prevention
First, you must control the possibility of having diabetes. It is important to eliminate the risk factors that also cause arteriosclerosis, such as hypertension, smoking and cholesterol, since their association potentiates the vascular aggression of diabetes. People with a direct history of diabetes are advised to have at least one blood test per year starting at age 50.
Regarding the prevention of the development of diabetic foot, if you know of diabetic arterial disease you will need to take a strict hygiene of the feet, using moisturizing creams, controlling the nails and using comfortable shoes and wide to avoid friction and injuries due to cutaneous insensitivity.