Diabetes and Your Feet: Q&A with Dr. Pascoe
Troy Pascoe, MD, Bronson Wound Center & Hyperbaric Medicine
Cases of diabetes have risen throughout the country in recent years. This is mainly due to growing obesity rates and an aging population. About 38 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes. An additional 15 million people with diabetes don’t even know they have it!
Over time, high blood sugar can cause complications such as nerve damage, especially in the feet. This is also known as diabetic neuropathy. Your feet contain thousands of nerve endings that provide sensations to every part of the foot. These nerve endings deliver signals to the brain to alert us to pain and pressure. If you have diabetes, you might not be aware of injuries to your feet because of the lack of feeling due to nerve damage. This is why it’s especially important to check your feet regularly. If you notice a wound that’s not healing, a wound care specialist can help.
Why see a wound care specialist?
Wounds tend to heal more slowly for people with diabetes. This is because diabetes disrupts the healing process by slowing down blood flow and decreasing the amount of oxygen in your blood. This means a wound may take months to heal instead of days.
How are wounds treated?
If you have diabetes, working with your primary care provider to manage your blood sugar is very important. If your blood sugar and A1C increase, the ability to heal on your own is harder.
As wound care specialists, our team has many ways to help speed up healing and prevent wounds from getting worse, like:
- Using a cast or special footwear to help you keep pressure off of wounds.
- Monitor the blood supply to wounds and increase oxygen to these areas of your body.
- Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is helpful for certain types of wounds that meet the criteria. With this type of therapy, a patient lies in a clear tube that is pressurized with 100 percent oxygen. This brings oxygen-rich plasma to the damaged tissue to help you heal.
Is a slow or non-healing wound serious?
A delay in healing increases the risk of infection. Since diabetes affects the immune system’s ability to fight infections, an infected wound can be life-threatening. Amputation is also a possibility if the wound is not treated in time.
Do I need a referral to see a wound specialist?
You do not need a referral to see us, but it’s best if you work closely with your primary care provider first. If you don’t have a primary care provider, call us to get started. To find a primary care doctor, visit bronsonhealth.com/find-a-doc.
