17/11/2025
🌟 DIABETIC FOOT CARE – WHAT EVERY PATIENT SHOULD KNOW 🌟
👩🏽⚕️ From Dr. Natasha Naidoo, General Surgeon
Diabetes can affect the smallest parts of your body in the biggest ways — especially your feet. Good foot care isn’t just hygiene… it’s prevention, protection, and early detection.
Here’s what you should be doing every single day:
🦶 DAILY FOOT CHECK
• Look for cuts, cracks, blisters, swelling, colour changes or areas of warmth.
• Don’t forget between the toes!
🧼 KEEP FEET CLEAN & DRY
• Wash with warm (not hot) water.
• Dry well, especially between the toes.
🧴 MOISTURISE, BUT…
• Apply lotion to heels and soles.
• Avoid putting cream between the toes (risk of fungal infection).
👟 WEAR PROTECTIVE FOOTWEAR
• Closed, supportive shoes every day.
• Avoid walking barefoot — even at home.
✂️ NAIL CARE
• Trim nails straight across.
• If you can’t reach, have them trimmed professionally.
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🚨 WHEN TO SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP IMMEDIATELY
If you have any of the following, see a doctor or surgeon ASAP:
⚠️ A new wound that isn’t healing
⚠️ Redness, swelling, warmth or increasing pain
⚠️ Discharge or foul smell
⚠️ Black/dark patches on the skin
⚠️ Fever with a foot wound
⚠️ Numbness or sudden loss of sensation
⚠️ Ingrown toenails with infection
⚠️ Cracks in the skin that keep reopening
Early treatment can save tissue, prevent serious infection, and in many cases — save the limb.
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💬 If you’re diabetic, routine foot checks are just as important as your sugar control. Don’t wait for small problems to become big ones. Your feet carry you every day — let’s look after them.
