Diabetes & Neuropathy
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a systemic disease that can have a widespread impact on your health, including your feet. With diabetes, your body is unable to regulate its blood sugar levels properly, which leads to glucose buildup in your blood vessels and nerve damage. As extremities, your feet can be among the hardest hit by this poor circulation and subsequent nerve damage since they’re farthest from your heart, and your body needs to work harder to deliver the necessary oxygen and nutrients to these areas.
The problems that arise from diabetes in your feet are threefold:
First, as the blood circulation to your feet becomes increasingly compromised, you may have a harder time fighting off infection. This means that even the most minor cut or scrape can quickly blossom into something more serious as these wounds are unable to heal properly and the infection spreads.
Second, the loss of good blood circulation damages the nerves in your feet, leaving you with numbness and tingling, and even a total loss of sensation in your feet.
Finally, the high level of blood sugar blocks your immune system from functioning. Therefore, if you get injured on your foot with a cut or scrape, you may not feel it due to the neuropathy, you may not heal it due to lack of blood flow and you may get a life threating infection due to a lack of immune function.
Dr. Michaels Says:
“If you were to design a disease to damage feet in the most maximal way then diabetes would fit the bill. This process causes your nerves to stop working, your circulation to decrease and your immune system to stop functioning. We have everything including a wound care center of excellence, shoe store and wound care supply center all under one roof for your streamlined treatment. We have expertise in procedures that prevent amputation yet still allow you to walk out of our office. We supply custom braces and prosthetics to support and fill voids in the lower extremity. If ulcers occur, we do skin grafting and plastic and reconstructive surgery in and out of the office to close the wounds fast. These treatments allow you to get back to your life and your normal activities as fast as possible using the most natural means to support your recovery.”
Diabetes Foot Care Treatment Options
Dr. Michaels has a number of tools for diabetic patients and is proud to have a diabetic center of excellence at his practice. We take a functioal approach to diabetic foot care, focusing on prevention, which includes:
- Expert monitoring
- At-home care of your skin and bones
- Nutrition (focusing on lowering your body mass index, if necessary)
The care you provide at home is critical in helping ward off potential problems, and Dr. Michaels sits down with you to review what you need to do, including:
- Daily checks for wounds
- Keeping skin clean and dry
- Maintaining soft skin to avoid calluses
- Trimming your toenails properly to avoid ingrown toenails
Dr. Michaels also may fit you with orthotics, therapeutic shoes, therapeutic inserts off-the-shelf braces or custom ankle-foot-orthotics.
The bottom line is that Dr. Michaels is with you every step of the way to encourage good foot health in the face of diabetes. To learn more, call Reconstructive Foot & Ankle Institute or use the online scheduler.
