Why Are Patients With Vulnerable Diabetes Amputated?
People with diabetes are prone to foot problems, often due to two complications of diabetes, namely nerve damage (neuropathy) and poor blood circulation. Neuropathy causes loss of taste in your feet (numbness), it can eliminate your ability to feel pain and discomfort so you may not detect injury or irritation. Poor circulation on your feet reduces the ability to recover, you will even have difficulty protecting small wounds from infection. With diabetes, mild foot problems can turn into serious complications that require leg amputation.
Amputation of the feet of diabetics
People with diabetes are far more likely to experience leg amputation compared to others. How did it happen? Many people with diabetes have peripheral artery disease (PAD) which makes blood flow to the legs slightly. In addition, many people with diabetes have neurological diseases that can make the legs numb.
This problem makes feet easy to get ulcers and infections that can cause amputation. The most common amputations for diabetes are amputation of the feet, toes and lower legs. Even so, most amputations can be prevented by doing routine maintenance and using the right footwear.
So, take good care of your feet and visit your health service immediately. Ask about what shoes can be used for diabetics. Always follow doctor's advice when treating boils or other problems. One of the biggest threats to your feet is smoking. Smoking affects small blood vessels. This can cause blood flow to the legs to decrease and make the wound recover for a long time. Therefore, most diabetics who need amputation are smokers.
Trigger leg amputation in diabetics
1. Infections and ulcers (wounds) that do not heal
Ulcers are a pain in the skin that can lead to bones. Because of poor circulation and neuropathy in the legs, cuts or abrasions can easily turn into infected boils and will not heal. This is a serious complication that is common in diabetics and this can also cause the loss of your feet, feet, and life.
2. Fish eyes and calluses
When neuropathy is present, you cannot say if your shoes are causing pressure, causing fish eyes and calluses. Fish eyes and calluses must be treated immediately, or they can develop into ulcers.
3. Dry and cracked skin
Lack of circulation and neuropathy can make your skin dry. This may seem harmless, but dry skin can cause cracks that may become injured and cause infection.
4. Nail abnormalities
Ingrown toenails and fungal infections can attack without your knowledge due to loss of taste in the legs (numbness). If it is not treated immediately, it will cause infection.
5. Toe hammers and bunion
Nerve damage that affects the muscles can cause muscle weakness and loss of tone in the legs, resulting in hammer and bunion fingers. If left untreated, this defect can cause ulcers.
6. Foot Charcot
This is a complex foot deformity. This develops as a result of loss of sensation and no detection of bone damage leading to destruction of the soft tissue of the foot. Because of neuropathy, the pain of a fracture occurs unnoticed, and the patient will usually continue to run even though in fact the bone has broken, this causes the foot condition to be worse.
7. Bad blood flow
In diabetes, blood vessels below the knee often narrow and restrict blood flow. This can prevent healing from wounds and make the death of leg tissue.
Although the various diseases above can avoid leg amputation with various preventive treatments and appropriate treatment of infections and complications, there are times when amputation is still needed to remove infected tissue, so that it will save other limbs and even your life.
