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Diabetic Foot Care

Top tips for diabetic foot care

Maintaining your foot health is an essential part of your personal care when living with diabetes. Here at Margaret Dabbs® London, we have treated and cared for thousands of diabetic patients, ensuring that their feet are given the attention and treatment they need.

It is crucial to make sure you are regularly seeing a podiatrist to keep your feet in good health, as no amount of home treatment can take the place of professional care. However, there are steps you can add into your routine to help keep your feet in good shape. Here are our top tips for taking care of your feet in-between appointments.

  1. Self-checking: It’s important to regularly rub and run your hands all over your feet – the top, underneath, sides and the back of your heels. Check for any unusual lumps, bumps or hard skin that you haven’t noticed before. If you think anything looks significantly different or a cause for concern, contact us for a diabetic foot check-up and we can assess this for you.
  2. Dry Skin: The build-up of dry, hard skin is a common problem with diabetic feet. We recommend applying lotion to your feet daily, and exfoliating the feet first to remove any dead cells encouraging healthy, kind growth. We recommend the Intensive Hydrating Foot Lotion and the Exfoliating Foot Scrub as the best combination for tackling and preventing dry skin build up.
  3. Heel Fissure or Cracked heels: These can give you problems, so if you know you have full sensation in your feet, we would recommend filing your heels gently once a week with the Margaret Dabbs London Foot File (if possible, ask a family member to do this for you, and always make sure your skin is dry before filing). Follow up with daily use of the Intensive Hydrating Foot lotion; the unique formulation of our products provide a non-slippery feel that is amazing to use day and night. Slowly, the cracks on your heels will heal up nicely – providing you with the comfort you are looking for.
  4. Callus: Be careful walking around bare foot, particularly when spending more time at home as callus is going to be one of the main problems you experience with your feet. If you find that you have a build-up of callus, you can file the callus down with the MDL Foot File and apply the Intensive Hydrating Foot Lotion. Honestly, you won’t believe the results or how heavenly your feet will feel!
  5. Nail care: During the spring and summer months, it is a fact that our nails grow more quickly. You might suddenly catch sight of your feet and think – ‘Wow! My nails need cutting already’. We recommend visiting us in one of our clinics for the perfect medical pedicure, however, if you decide to cut your nails at home, cut them straight across and file the ends gently down. Make sure not to dig down the side of your nails or cut anything you can’t see.

Following the above tips will help take care of your feet in-between appointments but we always recommend seeing a podiatrist if you have any concerns or need advice with your diabetic feet. Please contact us with any questions or to book an appointment.

Article  by Dr. Chris Morriss-Roberts MA, PhD
Head of Podiatry Operations Margaret Dabbs® London