Orange Persimmon Interactive Reporter Yu Qianqian Correspondent Xu Youjia
"I was thinking of wearing a new pair of shoes, but now that they're good, my toes are going to be wasted. On the morning of May 2, only one day after the May Day holiday, 42-year-old Mr. Zhou was lying in the ward of the endocrinology department of Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Don't look at Mr. Zhou's age, he is a "sugar friend" who has suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure for many years, but he doesn't care much about controlling blood sugar.
Not long ago, Mr. Zhou got a new pair of shoes, and although the toe was a little tight, he still liked it, and on the first day of the holiday, he wore the new shoes to the park for a day. When I got home in the evening, I found that the toe of my right foot was swollen and black, and there was a little broken skin.
"It may be that the new shoes are grinding on the feet, and after a few days they will be fine. Mr. Zhou found some ointment and put it on and fell asleep, but he didn't expect to get up early the next morning, his toes had burst and pus, and he couldn't walk in pain.
Accompanied by his family, Mr. Zhou hurried to the Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is closer to his home, and after careful examination, the attending doctor carefully examined and diagnosed a toe injury and infection caused by diabetic foot.
"Diabetic foot" is recognized as one of the most serious complications of diabetes, diabetic patients themselves have poor resistance, and diabetes will affect the health of the lower limbs, once the feet or calves are broken, the wound is difficult to heal, at this time, some long-term survival in the patient's body bacteria will be active to induce infection, if not treated in time, it may cause serious infection of the whole body, amputation, and even life-threatening.
Mr. Zhou was immediately admitted to the hospital, and the doctor performed surgical debridement and anti-inflammatory treatment to save the diseased toe. Due to the severity of his condition, he remains at risk of amputation of his toe.
Diabetes can be said to be one of the world's chronic diseases that plague human health, and diabetic foot is one of its most serious complications, according to the International Diabetes Federation statistics, one in every 6 diabetic patients suffer from diabetic foot, "diabetic foot" refers to diabetic patients due to neuropathy and various degrees of peripheral vascular lesions resulting in lower limb infection, ulcer formation and/or destruction of deep tissues.
Jin Jianhong, deputy director of the Department of Endocrinology of Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, introduced that the main causes of diabetic foot include: external infection, physical injury (common physical injuries include scratches, burns, frostbite, bruises, etc.), long-term hyperglycemic state, metabolic factors (blood lipid metabolism disorders), foot vascular and skin lesions. One of the most common is hyperglycemia, which is a long-term hyperglycemic state in the body after physical injury, which leads to soft tissue infections and eventually diabetic foot.
Diabetic foot usually begins with intermittent claudication (i.e., pain in the leg after walking and needs to rest, but pain occurs again when walking), followed by resting pain, which is pain at rest. This is followed by decreased or absent dorsalis pedis pulses, pale feet, cold toes, and low skin temperature, suggesting poor circulation in the feet, and finally short circuits in the arteries and veins of the feet, decreased oxygen supply to local tissues, and ischemia.
Deputy Director Jin Jianhong reminded that it should be noted that the high-sugar environment in the body of diabetic patients is a "hotbed" for bacteria and germs. The necrosis of the foot formed by the diabetic foot is irreversible, and even if it is treated by surgery, it is very difficult to heal the surgical wound under the physical condition of high sugar in diabetic patients. Therefore, many patients with severe diabetic foot can only rely on amputation to prevent the spread of infection, which is why once diabetic foot is found, it is necessary to seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Spring and summer have become the season of high incidence of diabetic foot due to the rising temperature. For the majority of "sugar friends", it is especially important to spend the summer safely and protect the health of the feet, and the following points need to be done:
1. Avoid wearing sandals
Sandals will expose the toes, easy to collide with hard objects to cause foot damage, in addition to the texture of sandals is generally hard, easy to hit the feet or increase the local pressure of the feet to cause ulcers, some thicker sandals are not breathable enough, if sweating is too easy to cause foot fungal infection. Therefore, diabetics should never wear sandals in the summer to be cool.
2. Choose the right socks
The socks worn in summer should be loose, do not choose the kind with elastic bands at the mouth of the socks, the material is better than cotton socks or sweat-absorbing and breathable materials, do not wear nylon socks, and usually change and wash socks frequently to keep the feet dry.
3. Keep your feet clean and dry
Insist on soaking your feet in warm water at about 37 degrees every day, and use a cotton towel to gently dry them after washing, while observing whether there are any small wounds.
4. Shoes are sterilized to prevent athlete's foot
In summer, the feet are prone to bacterial growth, we can spray a small amount of vinegar in the shoes to sterilize, or spray a spray of tonaphthylate or miconazole to inhibit fungal growth. You can often pat the lower limbs and massage them to improve blood circulation in the feet.
5. Do regular foot check-ups
"Sugar friends" need to regularly check whether the feet are damaged, deformed, and worn, and measure the foot temperature, sensory nerves, and foot pulse, and seek medical attention immediately if there is any abnormality.
6. Diabetics are not recommended to walk on cobblestone roads
Many people like to walk barefoot on cobblestone roads in the summer, which can promote blood circulation and make the endocrine vigorous. However, the nervous system of diabetic patients is often damaged, due to the lack of sensation when walking on the pebble road, it is difficult to detect if the foot is cut by a sharp stone, and the elderly diabetic patients generally have different degrees of bone and joint degeneration and osteoporosis, and it is easy to damage the joints and cause knee and ankle joint lesions when walking barefoot.
Editor in charge: Yu Qianqian
Review: Xu Fang, Feng Yunnong