What to look for? : You and your health care provider can look for certain signs and symptoms that could indicate problems with your feet.

Diabetic foot ulcers usually develop as a combined result of the damages to the sensory nerves and blood vessels, known as peripheral neuropathy and peripheral artery disease respectively.

Prolonged and uncontrolled diabetes causes permanent damage to the nerves and blood vessels in the body. Due to damage to the sensory nerves (peripheral neuropathy), the foot becomes numb to pain, temperature, and sensations, whereas, in the case of damage to blood vessels (peripheral artery disease), the walls of the blood vessels become thicker and harder.

The starting point of a foot ulcer can be as minor as a blister, injury, or callus. Even small cuts due to poorly fitting shoes can initiate the development of a diabetic foot ulcer.

This happens because the sensory nerves do not function optimally and thus, fail to transmit proper messages, and signals between the brain and the affected foot.

In most cases, therefore, the person is not even aware of the minor injuries or cuts to the foot. This leads to a delay in treatment and by the time the person seeks medical advice, the condition becomes worse and the wound gets infected.

As soon as you notice the symptoms of a diabetic foot ulcer, the first thing you need to do is to consult a specialist doctor. You must have understood how serious untreated ulcers can be, so do not delay the treatment at any cost.

If you attend diabetic foot ulcers in the initial stages, debridement and infection control may be enough to get rid of the ulcer. In debridement, the specialist doctor removes the dead and infected tissues from the wound and then cover the wound with a sterile bandage.

For preventing the wound from infection, the doctor also prescribes oral or topical ointments.

However, these diabetic ulcers have a tendency to return. In order to treat the condition permanently, your doctor will try to evaluate the root cause of diabetic foot ulcers.