Persons with diabetes must learn to take special notice of even the most minor injuries. Even the most trivial injuries to the skin of the Feet may result in infections that may have serious consequences. Eventually, it progresses to numbness or a lack of sensation. The numbness is dramatically more dangerous to the diabetic, because injuries can occur and progress without the diabetic being aware of them. It happens in all individuals eventually, as a normal result of aging, but in diabetics it happens far more severely and much earlier in life.
Blood carries nourishment and infection fighting calls to the body.
When circulation is diminished, so is the ability to repair injured areas and fight infection. When small infections are not constantly cleaned up by the body's blood borne defense system, they quickly grow and can take over a limb, if nothing is done. The toes are affected the most. Here are some examples of injuries that can occur and become serious problems if not cared for quicker. Cracks between toes from minor athlete's foot infections can quickly lead to major infections.