Review (5/5): A Powerful Preventative Tool For A Nation Of Diabetics!
I never suspected I would be writing a review about what appears to be a sander to use on ones feet but here I am doing exactly that.
About 18-20 months ago my husband who has adult onset diabetes injured his large toe. He was on a job site and accidentally tripped over something but because of advanced diabetes he has neuropathy which has caused him to lose most sensation in his feet. I discovered the injury as he was putting on his socks and when I began to put medication and a bandage on his toe, the end of the toe nearly fell off in my hand. So needless to say a long complicated process began to save his toe; possibly his entire foot.
As we age our feet do too. We may get thick calluses which can crack deep into the layers of the skin that are very painful and make the feet susceptible to infection, an infection that can easily become a long standing crisis not just for a diabetic but for everybody when their feet begin to misbehave. Yes, even you! Believe it or not we are still trying to get his feet to heal. Foot Cream of every kind in the house, epsom salt foot soaks, special socks and shoes. Bandaids come in more shapes, sizes and uses than one can imagine. Sports tape, implements to grind the callus down before they crack, and on and on until one wants to pull their hair out. Your entire life focus revolves around diabetic care! I can honestly say that until this happened I had never given a thought to diabetes and now it is all I think of or so it seems.
So at this point, I was frustrated, frightened and more than a little angry. I finally purchased a rasp and used it to sand the calluses on my husbands feet. At the same time I was having my own problems with my feet but had no idea that my feet were going thru the same thing. Ouch!
Now I was really getting worried because the rasp was just not effective enough to get this stuff under control and I didn't know what to do when a strange thing happened. I purchased a Dremel tool to help with some heavy cleaning I needed to do and as I used it, it occurred to me that something like this could be beneficial for the foot problem if it wasn't so dangerous.
That thought as most of mine do eventually deserted me but one day I was browsing Amazon for foot care and I saw what appeared to be a Dremel and initially thought my page had flipped. But I was intrigued so I decided to compare it to mine and that is when I discovered it is a foot Dremel! What? No! Really? Yep, a foot Dremel. Well I guess you know I spent hours on Amazon reviewing these things and this product had so many outstanding reviews I decided to give it a try.
What a blessed relief this little tool has become, a virtual life saver. I read the instructions because there is an appropriate way to have good foot hygiene and by this time I wanted nothing less than the best. We immediately began foot baths with a little Apple Cider Vinegar, sometimes Epsom Salts, or Hydrogen Peroxide, anything safe to help soften the calluses. Then I turned on my foot dremel and OMG! Once I practiced how to use it without causing further damage it was as if a miracle had occurred. The deep fissures in his feet are healing fast enough that more aren't developing and the tool is has a small surface so I used it on the toe that he had injured. We thought that toe had healed and were focusing on the calluses by then. Anyway a callus had developed on the toe but it looked OK. Well, there is ok and then there is OK! As the callus began to disappear I could see flecks of red so I felt bad because I thought I had been careless with the tool. The second time I used it on the toe which was red and painful by now three pin point holes began to bleed. Suddenly I began to realize that those were the place his toe nearly fell off. The infection had never healed! The wound had sealed over for all of that time just waiting, a spectre of death stalking my husband!
Within 3-4 days the redness around his toenail began to ease and the holes are still open but now they can heal from the inside out. Such relief! Such gratitude washed over me because if that infection had been allowed to brood much longer it may have flooded his entire body with infection, life threatening infection!
I know this is a long story but I wanted to share this journey to instill the importance of foot hygiene whether you have diabetes or not yet....? One does not wait until their feet are in crisis mode before beginning good self care, which includes and instrument such as this. When you think you need it, you are likely wishing you already had one.
So, good proactive foot hygiene, a foot dremel (my words) something adequate to do foot soaks and appropriate things to aid in softening the calluses before they form deep painful fissures and the will to see it thru.
The reason I chose this particular instrument is because of the great reviews. Many items receive good reviews but when you look at the number of the reviews and they are consistently good with far less negative ones it is a good indicator that the item is at least worth a try so watch the numbers. They can indicate good but if there is just a few reviews VS lots of reviews then you know you are likely safe.
I highly recommend this item for yourself, gifts for the hard to shop for person and encourage you to educate yourselves on what foot hygiene consists of and begin it as a preventative measure then encourage your loved ones too.
I have not received compensation of any kind for writing this book, other than the potential to help others avoid the agony, despair and long arduous hours of trying to stay ahead of an unexpected enemy threatening one's life.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Well what are you waiting for-get going!