Diabetic Foot Infections Require Urgent Care

Diabetic foot infections are all too common, and if you develop one that goes untreated, you could lose your feet. This is a serious condition and one that cannot be taken lightly for the sake of your health and your future. We understand that and are here to assist you.

Some of the reasons that feet become infected are:

• Wounds like cuts or scrapes that were caused by an outside trauma. For example, trapping your foot in the door or stepping on a shovel while walking through the grass.
• Neuropathy that results in a skin ulceration due to being diabetic.

The problem that diabetics have is the inability for the body to heal itself. Diabetes is a condition when left uncontrolled, the body will not have strong white blood cells to fight infection and return the body to good health. This means that anything that you come down with whether it's the common cold and flu or a wound on your foot, may not heal like it should.

The problem is that many diabetics do not deal with these wounds right away like they should. Often this is due to how minor the wound was, to begin with. For example, if you hurt your foot while you are in the yard, you may think that it only needs a Band-Aid and will heal within a couple of days. However, if you have recently had a diabetic episode and your white blood cells are inhibited, this seemingly innocent wound may not heal and may instead spread. At this point, you could be dealing with a diabetic foot infection that demands immediate attention in order to prevent an escalation.

This is why it is important to monitor any wounds that you have to ensure that they are healing properly and are not infected. In fact, we invite you to visit our office anytime that you have hurt your feet. If you are diabetic this is especially true. We can examine you and keep an eye on what is happening to ensure that everything is healing properly so that the condition does not go from a simple cut or laceration to something that could put your feet in jeopardy.

We can treat your diabetic foot infection if one has already set in. This begins with you visiting our office so that we can conduct a thorough examination in order to determine the exact extent of the infection. Once we have a handle on the cause that the infection has spread, we can create a game plan for treatment. The first part is getting it under control as quickly as possible. This is certainly going to include a round or two of antibiotics, so be prepared for that. If the infection is minor, antibiotics may be enough to cure it. However, if you have chronic osteomyelitis you may need surgical debridement for the antibiotics to begin to work.

Since each case is different, the best way to proceed is to visit our office as quickly as possible for an examination so that we can discuss your treatment options.