Plus, thumbtacks, brads or sharp nails may penetrate through the soles of your shoes. Minor irritations such as the above, or even ingrown toenails, are worth a call to the podiatrist. In many cases Medicare covers such service. Your podiatrist may recommend you use special therapeutic shoes, or shoe inserts, to help protect your feet. The precautions described above should keep your feet out of trouble, but diabetes is unpredictable, and you might find problems developing in spite of your best efforts.
Quick intervention is called for.
Regular foot inspections, as discussed above, can reveal that unfelt blister, that undetected cut, that tack you stepped on, before the wound goes septic. Diabetes is the biggest cause of non-traumatic amputations in the United States. Most of these are lower limbs, where neuropathy, impaired circulation, and undetected, untreated injuries can combine to create non-healing, septic wounds. New medical developments have cut the rate of amputation. Hopefully you'll never need such intervention.