Why should I have the sensation in my feet checked if I have diabetes?

Why should I have the sensation in my feet checked if I have diabetes?

Anne Peters, MD, FACP, CDE (Professor and Director of Clinical Diabetes Programs, USC Keck School of Medicine) gives expert video advice on: What are the symptoms of type 2 diabetes?; When should I get emergency care if I have diabetes?; Why should I should I have my urine checked if I have diabetes? and more...

People with diabetes get what's called peripheral neuropathy, which means that they lose sensation in their feet and toes. The reason this is important is because diabetes is the leading cause of non-traumatic amputations in the United States. What happens is that your feet might not feel that you've got a cut or a sore. I've had people come to see me with tacks in their feet because they didn't feel the thumbtacks, because they have no sensation. So, every year your doctor needs to check your feet, and tell you if you do have normal feet. If you have diabetes and you have normal sensations, then you're probably pretty similar to anybody else with normal feet. However, if your doctor checks and you have any damage to your feet, if you have poor circulation in your feet, if you have a loss of sensation, if you have foot deformities: bunions, hammer toes; all of those things can make the feet not quite normal. If you have any abnormality in your feet, then you should be absolutely certain not only to have your doctor check your feet every single time you go to see your health care provider, at least three times, four times a year, but also every single day your should check your feet yourself to see if there are any cuts, sores, or lesions, and then if there are, you need to call your doctor right away.