Diabetic foot sores
A diabetic foot ulcer or sore is a serious wound. It requires proper care and attention to avoid infection, which can lead to a stay in the hospital, and in severe cases, amputation.

There are two main causes of diabetic foot ulcers:

1. Neuropathy (noo-ROP-a-thee) , which is nerve damage that leads to a loss of feeling. Without feeling in your feet, you may not notice when you hurt your foot, which may result in your injury going untreated. Walking on an untreated injury is the most common cause of diabetic foot ulcers.
2. Poor circulation in your legs and feet can affect very small blood vessels that feed the skin. The lack of healthy blood flow may lead to poor skin repair, allowing the skin to break down and not heal properly, resulting in a sore.

What are the signs and symptoms?
Because diabetic foot sores are quite often painless, it is not unusual for people to have had a sore for a while before going to the doctor. This can lead to more complications, because people with diabetes are prone to infections of the sore and the surrounding skin (cellulitis).

Diabetic foot sores are rated between 0 and 3, depending on their severity:

                        0. At risk foot with no sore
                        1. Shallow sore with no infection
                        2. Deep sore, exposing tendons and joints
                        3. Extensive sore or abscesses

What are the treatments for diabetic foot sore?
The standard treatment for a diabetic foot ulcer is often a mix of cleaning and removing dead tissue from the wound (debridement), the application of moist dressings, and rest. Antibiotics will be prescribed if there is an infection. The sore must be protected from further injury until it heals. This may include keeping weight off the feet until the sore is healed. Real effort must be made to avoid another sore by wearing correct footwear and frequently examining the skin. Although healing of any wound may take time, lack of healing progress after 3-4 weeks (sore is not decreasing in size or moving towards closure) is a sign that the current treatment regimen is not working, and treatment with Apligraf® should be considered.

Apligraf® , when combined with standard treatment, has been shown to heal more diabetic foot sores, and to do so faster.  It delivers missing normal skin healing substances such as proteins, growth factors and cells directly to the wound. 4 Of course, as with any medical condition, it is better to prevent a diabetic foot sore than to have to treat one. To learn more about prevention, click here.

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