People suffering from high blood sugar often have diabetic foot problems (pictures 1) being fraught with severe consequences like loss of a toe or leg. But at first a patient can find foot discoloration, rash, swelling and other deviations. To reduce the risk it is important to take care of feet carefully.
Diabetic foot symptoms pictures
Let’s consider the common diabetic foot symptoms (picture 1). There are two main directions where disease develops. It causes nerve damage and as a result a physician diagnoses diabetic neuropathy, coming out in opposite symptoms: pain and tingling or inability to feel feet. The latter is rather dangerous as far as a patient can fail to notice a wound, which usually leads to diabetic leg ulcers with high probability of further complications like infection, gangrene and amputation.
Also the statistics says that a third of people with high blood sugar can catch diabetic foot fungus (pictures in the gallery) invading the skin and bottom of the feet being difficult to heal. If one leaves it untreated the consequences can be serious. Another problem is diabetic foot blisters appearing from nowhere at a single or several locations and treated successfully in two or five weeks keeping level of sugar under control.
Diabetic foot discoloration pictures
When we speak about diabetic foot such a symptom as foot discoloration (picture 2) should be mentioned. The color of skin on a foot or ankle can change and that is a reason to look for medical attention. The point is that the uncontrolled glucose results in losing fluid and the organism replaces water by urine in order to remove the sugar out of the blood. That makes the skin dry, red or yellow. In addition the small blood vessels providing the skin with blood get affected and lead to development of brown patches on the front of legs.
Vitiligo is often regarded as diabetic foot problems (pictures below) for patients suffering from the first type. It occurs when the particular cells are destroyed and discolored patches appear all over the body. Unfortunately vitiligo is not treated and requires special care like sunscreen when being in sun as far as the discolored areas are very sensitive and inclined to sunburn.
Diabetic foot sores pictures
The diabetic foot sores (picture 3) happen for various reasons and need to be healed immediately after being revealed. The matter is that the blood circulation decreases and any scratch can become a serious problem. The patient can just wear uncomfortable tight shoes and the rubbed area can easily turn to an ulcer getting deeper and deeper.
At first the diabetic foot wounds (pictures below) are surrounded with puffed red skin discoloration to dark-brown in due course. The doctors consider several foot ulcer stages, each of which demands corresponding care. But the earlier a patient starts, the more chances to cure the lesion he has. To prevent the difficulties a diabetic should follow all the recommendations of his doctor. If diabetic foot sores (photos at the bottom) already appear, the key task is to prevent infection!
Diabetic foot infection pictures
Diabetic foot infection (picture 4) can enter into the organism through a slightest cut and cause severe complications. Damaged nerves together with difficulty of blood supply because of microvascular disease usually connected with uncontrolled glucose can become a reason for foot infections. Some of them do not pose a danger but the others are able to result in serious conditions including fatality.
The signs of foot infections (images below) are rather simple. If there are tender skin lesions, lymphangitis, extreme pain in tissues, bullae, inflamed ulcers and other discomfort it is highly recommended to turn to a doctor. Cellulitis, acute and chronic osteomyelitis, soft-tissue infections – all these diseases can be diagnosed in laboratory. The skin may be affected by anaerobes. The crepitation may develop. Being neglected any infection can lead to gangrene.
Gangrene foot pictures
Gangrene foot (picture 5) looks like black areas of body. It starts due to compromised blood circulation, because of which the tissues do not get enough oxygen and nutrients and die. The process is very rapid because the lack of oxygen is vitally important for keeping the tissues alive. When gangrene just begins, a patient feels pain within the affected area in particular on touching it.
If the skin turns to be dark blue with purple, it means the things get worse. And when the foot is black, the only way to solve the problem is diabetic foot amputation (pictures below). The surgical removal of the damaged part of the body is carried out only by an experienced doctor. The process is irreversible and the amputated foot is a chance for a patient to avoid sepsis and stay alive.
What does a diabetic foot look like
So, diabetic foot (picture 6) look like an affected lower limb often of abnormal form, sometimes with ingrown toenails, hammer and mallet toes and changed color of the skin, which becomes dry and calloused. The patient can observe various diabetic skin conditions including lesions on the surface. At the first stage they are small sores but with time those wounds turn to sever ulcers reaching bones if left untreated. The skin is itching and rich in rash, colored patches and spots. The diabetic foot (images in gal.) can be swelled. If the nerves are damaged, Charcot foot is possible when the muscles are not able to support the bones and deformation happens.
To prevent all the above a patient must take diabetes foot care (pictures below) checking and washing the feet every day. With the slightest suspicion of damage he should turn to a doctor. It is vital to know that that most mentioned conditions occur only in diabetics. So if a person does not aware of this diagnose and finds one of the above symptoms, he should attend a medical examination at the earliest.
