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What is diabetic or diabetes foot? When discussing diabetes, we delve into the field of endocrinology. Diabetic foot is one of the complications of diabetes, and it manifests as changes to the foot, affecting both soft and hard tissues.

What is very concerning is that this disease can lead to significant complications, which in the worst case could result in amputation of the foot.

Diabetic foot arises as a result of peripheral vascular disease and neuropathy.

We differentiate between two types of diabetic foot:

• Neuroischemic foot
• Neuropathic foot

Let’s explain these two disorders, each separately.

Neuroischemic foot is characterized by impaired vascularization with neuropathy. In neuropathic foot, as the name suggests, neuropathy predominates.

In these cases, infection can be an additional problem.

When the disease is in its early stages, the person loses sensation in the foot, so they do not notice the presence of wounds, injuries, or ulcers.

The disease progresses, leading to motor dysfunction, muscle atrophy in the foot, and eventually, the foot loses its original shape and becomes deformed.

At the third stage, changes in the skin of the foot are visible, such as dryness and cracking, which then opens the door to various infections that complicate the patient’s situation.

What the doctor sees as the clinical picture includes: ulcers, cracked skin of the foot that is also dry, deformed toes, and muscle atrophy.

Patients are interested in how the doctor diagnoses diabetic foot. First, a personal medical history is taken. It is essential to know how long the patient has had diabetes, whether there are characteristic neurovascular symptoms, and whether glycemic control is optimal.

After that, the doctor will examine the foot to determine if there are anatomical anomalies and specific deformities. The foot may have altered statics and pathological pressures on certain areas. Changes such as calluses, thickened skin, ulcers, and other lesions may appear.

The skin color of the foot may be changed, extremely dry, with fissures, cracks, and edema.

To establish the diagnosis, it is necessary for the patient to be examined by doctors of different specialties, such as orthopedics, neurology, and vascular surgery. An endocrinologist must monitor blood sugar levels.

As we can see, a team of doctors is involved in diagnosing and treating diabetic foot. The goal is to prevent complications and avoid a scenario that could lead to foot amputation.

There are risk factors that indicate you might develop diabetic foot, including: duration of diabetes as a disease, poor control of blood sugar, age, gender, presence of diabetic neuropathy, atherosclerosis of the leg blood vessels. Risk factors also include poor circulation, foot infection, smoking, and foot trauma.

You should know that treating diabetic foot is a process that takes time, is complicated, and involves many procedures and measures that need to be implemented. It is important for a whole team of doctors, from the specialties mentioned earlier, to be involved to ensure the treatment is as successful and smooth as possible.

It is crucial to minimize the risks of developing a diagnosis of diabetic foot, and if it already exists, follow the doctor's advice and participate and cooperate in the treatment. One method of treatment is a device called the vasculator. It is a hypobaric and hyperbaric chamber for extremities, one meter in length. It applies vacuum-compression therapy.