Diabetic patients should pay more attention to their feet!

Author: Cui Lei, Chief Physician, Beijing Century Altar Hospital, Capital Medical University

Reviewer: Wu Xueyan, Chief Physician, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

As we all know, the incidence of diabetic foot is relatively high for diabetic patients.

But in our daily life, we care more about our hands and rarely care about our feet.

Therefore, we need to remind everyone that if you are a diabetic patient, you must pay enough attention to your feet, so as to minimize foot skin damage, prevent and promptly detect and treat diabetic foot.

1. What are the dangers of not treating diabetic foot in time?

When there is a wound on the foot, the function of movement and walking will be restricted, thus affecting his normal work and social activities.

As the wound gradually expands, a large amount of necrotic tissue on the wound will produce a large amount of toxins and bacteria, which in turn will flow back into our blood and reach important organs, such as the heart, kidneys, and even the brain, causing damage to our important organs. This is called sepsis. The patient's heart function will be impaired, or even coma, so these are very damaging to the human body.

Figure 1 Original copyright image, no permission to reprint

As the entire foot becomes necrotic and the wound cannot heal, we have to perform amputation. The patient's quality of life will be seriously affected and the trauma to him will be even greater.

Therefore, if the wound of diabetic foot is not treated in time, it will cause great harm to the patient's life and health. Moreover, the patient cannot walk and his family has to take care of him, so it is also a heavy burden on the family.

2. Is autologous platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) safe for the treatment of diabetic foot?

PRF is to draw 10-20 ml of blood from the patient. The amount of blood drawn is determined according to the size of the patient's wound. Then a special centrifugation technique is used to coagulate the fibrin in the blood. At the same time, the fibrin also contains a large number of platelets. The fibrin containing a large number of platelets is then placed on the wound of diabetic foot to treat diabetic foot.

Because the patient's own blood is used, there is no rejection reaction.

Second, the amount of blood drawn is not large, only 10-20 ml, and the patient does not have any obvious discomfort.

Third, after the PRF (platelet-rich fibrin) is made, it is directly applied to the wound surface. It is made of the patient's own fibrin and platelets, so it will not trigger an inflammatory response locally. Therefore, the application of this technology is very safe and reliable.

However, for those who have not received training, this technology should be used with caution, mainly because in the preparation of PRF, attention must be paid to sterility. In addition, for different patients and different temperatures, the centrifugal speed and centrifugal force are slightly different, so they should be adjusted according to the specific conditions of the patient.

Figure 2 Original copyright image, no permission to reprint

3. What should patients with diabetic foot pay attention to in their daily lives?

We know that local pressure and local wounds are key factors in the later development of diabetic foot, so as a patient, we must take precautions in this regard.

For example, when washing your feet, you must use warm water instead of overly hot water, because your feet cannot feel the high water temperature and are prone to burns. For example, you should use a very soft and absorbent towel to wipe your feet, and avoid other external injuries.

In addition, due to nerve damage, the secretion of sweat sebaceous glands is reduced, and the skin of diabetic patients will be drier. After washing and wiping the feet, you should also pay attention to applying some skin care products to keep the skin moisturized and prevent small cracks from developing into wounds.

Also, the socks you wear should be soft enough. Shoes are very important for your feet, so when you wear shoes, they should be wide and not form local pressure, because local pressure is an important cause of diabetic foot.

Secondly, the shoes must have good breathability to prevent local bacterial growth. There are now many shoes designed specifically for diabetic foot and for diabetic patients. They are customized according to the shape of each person's foot, walking gait, and the stress-bearing parts of the foot to better protect the foot. This is also very important.

So at this time, we must be careful and pay extra attention to these details of life to avoid new wounds.

In addition, generally speaking, it is recommended to wash your feet with clean water or light salt water, and try not to touch the wound surface. After washing, you can wipe the surrounding area lightly with alcohol to clean the bacteria on the surface.

Avoid using highly irritating, strong alkaline soaps or strong acid soaps to wash your feet or take a bath. You can use some baby skin care products to wash, which are less irritating and have a better protective effect on the skin.