Slide show: Diabetes foot care prevents serious diabetes complications

Do you practice good diabetes foot care? Do you look at your feet everyday for warning signs of diabetes complications? If you don't you're increasing your chances of having serious diabetes complications, which could result in a toe, foot or leg amputation.

Diabetes makes your feet more vulnerable to injury and infection by:

• Damaging the nerves in your feet (neuropathy). As a result, you may lose the ability to feel pain in your feet and not notice a small cut or blister until it becomes a large sore.
• Reducing blood flow to your feet, making it difficult for foot injuries to heal.

Use your hands as well as your eyes to check your feet. You may be able to feel a problem in an area you can't see.

Check the tops, bottoms and sides of your feet. Gently separate your toes to look between them. Skin in this tight, moist space is prone to infection.

Check for:

• Bruises, cuts, blisters, cracking, peeling, wrinkling or ulcerations
• Redness, red streaks or swelling
• Color changes, such as pinker, paler, darker or redder areas
• Ingrown toenails
• Painful areas that are red

If you're unable to see parts of your feet, use a mirror as pictured here. It may take practice to check your feet this way. If you have difficulty bending over or reaching your feet, ask someone to help you or ask your doctor, podiatrist or diabetes nurse educator for guidance.

Contact your doctor's office right away if you notice a problem. Small cuts or bruises may heal on their own with appropriate self-care, but other problems — small foot ulcers, for example — may require medical treatment.

Athlete's foot is a common fungal infection. Although it usually occurs between the toes, it can involve the toenails and sides and soles of your feet. Evidence of fungal infection may include itching or cracking, peeling and wrinkling of the skin.

A bacterial infection may cause redness, red streaks, warmth, swelling, drainage, pain or accumulation of pus. If you notice signs or symptoms of infection, seek medical care immediately. Even minor problems can lead to serious complications if left untreated.

Besides infection, foot ulcers are a common threat when you have diabetes. They often start as a minor injury, such as a cut, abrasion or sore area.

Foot ulcers typically develop on the ball of the foot or on the bottom of the big toe, but they can occur anywhere. Ulcers on the sides of the feet often result from sore spots — near the big toe joint on this image, for instance — created by improperly fitting shoes.

Ulcers can be difficult to treat and may lead to amputation. If they're ignored or become infected, ulcers can progress into open wounds with severe infection that spreads to bone. Your doctor may order X-rays of your foot to determine if bone is affected.

He or she will remove infected or dead tissue if you develop a stubborn foot ulcer. You may require medication, a cast or a special shoe to help protect the injured area and promote healing.

Checking your feet might seem like a lot of work to do each day, perhaps even a hassle. But the alternative is the risk of stubborn foot sores and infection that can progress to ulcerations, gangrene and eventually amputation.

Prevent serious diabetes foot complications by checking your feet every day.