Doctors who do not specialize in diabetes care may fuel your denial. They may talk about a “mild” case of diabetes or say there is “just a touch of sugar” in your blood. Though well-meaning, these terms send the wrong message. What you believe is, “I don’t need to worry. My diabetes is not serious.” Truth told, any form of diabetes is serious.

If you were told about your risk for lower extremity amputation, you might think twice about eating that piece of chocolate cake, skipping your medicine, or ignoring any of the other steps to foot health that we will be discussing. For example, I tell my patients who smoke, “You can have your cigarettes or you can have your legs but you probably won’t get to keep both.” For my overweight patients, I suggest, “Now that we have your feet in good shape, you need small victories. I’d like you to start a walking program—walk a half a mile a day. Your goal is to lose one pound this month.”

A person’s failure to be vigilant about their diabetes may eventually place them in a terrible situation. For example, a patient may develop a problem like an infected ulcer on their foot. While the foot needs local wound care, the health of the total patient needs attention as well. The situation can become even more complex with multiple systems being affected and each needing the attention of a specialist. Medical conditions like peripheral arterial disease (PAD), or immunopathy may be too far advanced for someone like me to provide any meaningful care to prevent an amputation.

Due to a sedentary lifestyle and a diet filled with sweetened drinks and sugary, refined foods, the United States is third place in the world as the country with the highest number of people having diabetes. Over three million people die each year due to diabetes-related causes. The good news is that meticulous blood sugar control can enable a person to delay or even prevent the progression of diabetes and its many long-term complications.

The rising prevalence of diabetes all over the world has brought with it an increase in the number of lower limb amputations performed as a result of the disease. Epidemiological reports indicate that over one million amputations are performed worldwide on people with diabetes each year. This amounts to a leg being lost to diabetes somewhere in the world every thirty seconds. The sad thing about this is that up to 85 percent of these amputations are preventable with proper care and treatment. This is where a podiatrist can be a vital part of a diabetic person’s foot-or-leg-saving posse.

-drhinkes