Do you have a dia­betic foot care kit? Dia­bet­ics often have seri­ous prob­lems with their feet. This is par­tially because you can lose sen­sa­tion in the nerves around this area (dia­betic foot neu­ropa­thy). You may be unaware of blis­ters, cracks and wounds that develop.

If unat­tended, small wounds like these can exac­er­bate into severe com­pli­ca­tions such as gan­grenes and ulcers. Need­less to say, you should keep a kit of dia­betic foot care prod­ucts spe­cially designed to help pre­vent any of these complications.

Dia­betic foot cream – Healthy and soft skin resists infec­tion in your feet. Dry skin, on the other hand, leads to cracks that make your feet more vul­ner­a­ble to infec­tion. A good dia­betic cream may help mois­tur­ize areas that are espe­cially dry. A word of cau­tion when using these creams: avoid putting cream or oil between your toes. This often leads to infec­tion and complications.

Some­times an anti­fun­gal foot cream is called for to fend off fungi and bac­te­ria. It can help relieve symp­toms like itch­ing and burn­ing, while for­ti­fy­ing your skin with mois­ture to pro­tect your feet against microorganisms.

Pumice stone – This may come in handy for treat­ing exces­sive for­ma­tions of cal­luses. Never use sharp imple­ments such as a knife or razor blade to trim cal­luses, blis­ters or sores. A pumice stone used care­fully and gen­tly can remove lay­ers of hard­ened skin. For bet­ter results, use your pumice stone in com­bi­na­tion with mois­tur­iz­ing soap or cream to help hydrate the tis­sues of hard­ened areas.

Fun­gal nail treat­ments – Peo­ple with dia­betes are at risk of con­tract­ing nail fun­gus or ony­chomy­co­sis, a con­di­tion char­ac­ter­ized by dis­col­ored, dis­fig­ured, thick­ened and split toe­nails and fin­ger­nails. There are var­i­ous treat­ments for ony­chomy­co­sis includ­ing top­i­cal anti­fun­gals and oral med­ica­tions. For more severe cases, surgery may be needed.

You may want to include a mag­ni­fy­ing glass and a mir­ror to exam­ine your feet. Care­fully exam­ine your feet nightly for cuts, bruises or other signs of injury. Any injuries that do not heal quickly require imme­di­ate med­ical atten­tion. Do not put off what can quickly become a very seri­ous health issue.

Though not part of your actual kit, good dia­betic foot care includes the right socks and shoes. Going bare­foot is not a good idea. You don’t need added risk of injuries or wounds to your poor dia­betic feet.

Dia­betic socks – These look pretty much like reg­u­lar socks. These socks have sev­eral char­ac­ter­is­tics, how­ever, that sep­a­rate them from generic socks. Dia­betic socks pre­vent mois­ture and build-up of microor­gan­isms that cause infec­tions.  They are made from mate­ri­als such as nylon, acrylic, cot­ton and elas­tic fibers that pro­vide ample cush­ion­ing while keep­ing your feet cool and dry. Dia­betic socks have non-binding tops that also help improve blood cir­cu­la­tion in your feet.

Dia­betic socks are made with com­fort and pro­tec­tion in mind. Design is sec­ondary. Though man­u­fac­tur­ers do make col­ored dia­betic socks, white socks (not related to any base­ball team) are highly rec­om­mended by podi­a­trists and foot doc­tors. It is eas­ier to detect drain­ing that can cause dis­col­oration with lighter-colored socks.

Your socks should fit snugly, but com­fort­ably. The mate­r­ial should not pro­duce any uncom­fort­able sen­sa­tions. For more seri­ous cases of foot defor­mi­ties, patients are advised to wear wider-sized socks.

Good-fitting shoes – Many online as well as local ven­dors sell spe­cially fit­ted shoes for dia­bet­ics. A good pair of shoes for a dia­betic has a high and wide toe­box and remov­able insoles that can accom­mo­date orthotics. A proper shoe puts less pres­sure in areas that com­monly cause foot prob­lems such as cal­luses, blis­ters and wounds. Again, design and style are sec­ondary. Make sure your shoes are com­fort­able and give good sup­port to your feet.

Use your dia­betic foot care kit reg­u­larly and always wear proper socks and shoes. Your feet will thank you.

The Dia­betes Book That Could Save Your Life!