Diabetes affects foot health and foot health affects your diabetes prognosis.
An estimated seven in 10 diabetes patients will have nerve damage that impairs feeling in their feet. Fifteen percent eventually will develop a foot ulcer. Among those with ulcers, one in four will lose a foot. Each year more than 86,000 amputations are performed as a direct result of diabetes, and studies show that half of those who have one foot or leg amputated will lose the other within five years. Proper diabetic foot care, says James Hill DPM FACFAS, prevents foot loss.
In some cases, amputation might be the preferred option. If vascular and podiatric surgeries can’t improve blood circulation and foot function, resolve infection, or restore foot function, amputation may be the only solution that enables the patient to heal. Today, advances in prosthetics make it possible for patients to return to an active lifestyle, a necessity for keeping diabetes under control.
Foot problems are not an inevitable consequence of diabetes. The risk can be lessened significantly by following a few simple precautions:
World Diabetes Day is the primary global awareness campaign focusing on diabetes mellitus and is held on November 14 each year. Led by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), each World Diabetes Day focuses on a theme related to diabetes, a largely preventable and treatable non-communicable disease that is rapidly increasing in numbers worldwide.
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Background: Along with significant case transmission, hospitalizations, and mortality experienced during the global Sars-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, there existed a disruption in the delivery of health care across multiple specialties. We studied the effect of the pandemic on inpatients with diabetic foot problems in a level-one […]
Why podiatrists have seen a surge foot injuries during lockdown