Tips For Dealing With Dry Feet From Diabetes

Diabetes affects millions of people in the U.S. and worldwide. Diabetes can attack and affect every single part of your body in a multitude of different ways, your feet are no different. Having dry feet with diabetes increases your risk of foot infection, foot ulcers, and amputation. Dry feet, legs, and shins with diabetes is a serious issue and can cause problems if not addressed. To learn about the other ways that diabetes can affect your feet, click here for one of my blog posts on this topic here.

Tips For Dealing With Dry Feet From Diabetes

Why do diabetics have issues with dry feet?

1. It's hard for diabetic skin to hold onto water

One of the main reasons for dry feet and legs in people with diabetes is that the body is less likely to hold onto enough water for good hydration. The high blood sugar levels in diabetes can lead to increased urination or going to the bathroom a lot, causing dehydration. The skin on your feet or legs can lose moisture, becoming dry, flaky, and cracked.

2. Diabetes can damage the nerves in your feet

The high blood sugars seen in diabetes can attack the nerves in your feet leading to the symptoms seen in peripheral neuropathy, also known as diabetic neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is responsible for the numbness, tingling, and burning seen in many diabetic feet.

Diabetic neuropathy does also affect the nerves responsible for your sweat and oil glands working properly, and this is one of the key factors in diabetics having issues is very dry skin on their feet and legs.

3. Diabetes causes poor circulation in the feet

Peripheral Arterial Disease or PAD is unfortunately seen in many diabetics. as well. Diabetes can attack the arteries and make it much harder for blood to reach the legs and feet. This leads to poor circulation or blood flow.

Poor blood flow due to PAD, in addition to increasing your risks of chronic wounds or ulcers, gangrene, and amputation, also can make the skin on your feet much drier. Poor circulation to your feet makes it harder for nutrients and moisture to the skin, leading to dry skin, cracks, and fissures on the feet and legs, especially the soles of the feet.

Why dry skin in diabetics can be dangerous?

Cracked skin on the feet and legs can be a doorway for bacteria and fungi to enter your body, increasing your risk of infections. Dryness and the loss of elasticity in the skin can lead to the formation of painful fissures, a very deep crack in the skin, which can be prone to bleeding, and becoming infected as well. Infections in the diabetic foot can be challenging to treat and become life-threatening or even cause amputations due to diabetes lowering your immune response and making it much harder to heal wounds than in someone without diabetes.

Key Takeways

Having dry feet and skin is a common problem with diabetics due to this disease making it harder for your body to hold onto moisture, neuropathy affecting the lubrication of your skin, along with poor circulation, making it much harder for vital nutrients to reach your skin. Having dry skin on the diabetic foot is not something that should be ignored. There are certain lotions for diabetic feet, that will help protect and heal your skin.

Being diligent about moisturizing your feet and legs daily, helps to keep the skin on your feet and legs healthy, and hydrated, and lowers your risk of wounds, ulcers, infection, hospitalization, and amputation.

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Looking for a podiatrist in the Phoenix area? My name is Dr. Tarr, and I am the owner of Direct Podiatry Arizona in Tempe. To view my available appointment times, click here.