Keep sugars under control. Protect feet with hosiery. Never walk barefoot. Keep nails trimmed and prevent ingrown nail. Evaluate feet and check bottom of feet daily for foreign bodies. Shoegear can cause multiple sores due to improper shoegear. We provide extra depth shoes in our in office shoe store. Patient should get evaluated by podiatrist to review shoe gear. Corns or calluses should be evaluated by a foot doctor to ensure these lesions don't become ulcerated. Keep skin hydrated with foot cream. Never put foot cream in webspace; this can lead to athletes foot. Spray over the counter antifungal spray in webspace several times a week. Protective socks should never cut into skin and leave marks (such as ridges from the sock) which could cut off the circulation. Noted color changes such as redness of toe or foot could be circulatory or infected; in either case patient should report to a podiatrist immediately. Ingrown nails can be painful and become infected; if you notice skin is red or puckered on the side of the toe there is a good chance you may have infection; please do not perform bathroom surgery. Thickened nails if not evaluated may become infected with fungus and if left untreated the nail could cause pressure and an infection in the skin. Any open sore left untreated can cause bone infection called osteomyelitis. The reason it is so important for patients to be evaluated by a podiatrist is that diabetes decreases the patients ability to heal, simple wounds left untreated can be extremely dangerous. Lower extremity swelling could be a sign of arterial or vein problem and can be diagnosed with a machine that can evaluate your circulation. As a preventive measure we recommend evaluation by a foot doctor once every three months if you have a corn callous or thickened nail and if no pathology once a year.
We have a shoe store within our North Andover office. We provide all types of shoes ranging from diabetic shoes to sneakers and walking shoes to stylish shoes for women. All of these shoes are fitted to your foot and can accomodate orthotics, braces, deformities, etc. Come in and take a look!
