Some medical experts have cautioned persons living with diabetes against going without footwear even when indoors.
Speaking at a sensitisation workshop in Abuja, the doctors noted that walking barefooted can expose diabetic patients to serious injuries, and could result in serious complications.
According to the experts, foot care is an essential part of diabetes management, adding that wearing shoes or other footwear is crucial to protecting the feet of diabetes patients.
One of the doctors, a Consultant Endocrinologist, Dr. Oluwaotimi Olopade, said the importance of proper foot care cannot be over-stressed in diabetes care, noting that doctors always tell patients living with diabetes to avoid being barefooted even at home.
Olopade, who is also a diabetologist said wearing footwear is crucial to prevent persons living with diabetes from getting injured which they most times may not be aware of.
According to him, these sorts of injuries, no matter how small, can evolve into bigger issues which can eventually cause the person’s foot to be amputated.
He urged diabetes patients to always wear footwear to avoiding getting develop foot injuries that can cause serious complications.
“By the time you are making a diagnosis of the disease in a patient, macro and microvascular complications have started occurring hence they might have stopped having sensation underneath their feet.
“They may not have feelings in their feet; they may not have a blood supply to the legs and all that. So, any injury can lead to poor wound healing or non-healing, gangrene. And if there’s gangrene, you’d have to chop off the foot,” he said.
Olopade said a recent article published online by Mayo Clinic – a medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research, revealed that gangrene is the death of body tissue due to a lack of blood flow or a serious bacterial infection.
He added that it commonly affects the arms and legs, including the toes and fingers.
He said any condition that can damage the blood vessels and affect blood flow, such as diabetes or hardened arteries increases the risk of gangrene.
He therefore urged persons living with diabetes to make sure that they prevent pebbles from entering their shoes, noting that such tiny stones can cause micro-injuries which can later develop into bigger injuries to the person.
His position was also reinforced by a medical expert, Dr. Chinonso Egemba, who reiterated that persons living with diabetes should never walk barefoot.