Re: All diabetics, never do this

[Guest guest]

Hi Harry,

I have never heard of such a thing in all my years. Calouses should be

removed because the pressure caused from calouses can turn into ulcers if

not removed. The most important thing of all is to wear proper fitting

shoes. For the most part I agree with .

Ruth

All diabetics, never do this

You heard me right. It makes no difference whether or not you are a type1

or a type2. You should never have calluses removed from your feet by filing

them off or by surgical removal. Almost without exception all foot and leg

amputations of diabetics started with an infection in the foot caused by

callus removal. The only way to remove calluses is to wear properly fitting

shoes, and keep the pressure off your foot where calluses form. Calluses

are caused by the pressure due to ill fitting shoes or lack of proper shoe

inserts. Never go bare foot, if at all possible, even inside your own

house. Have house slippers available to wear at all times. This warning

should be especially taken if you have numbness in the feet due to diabetic

neuropathy, which is the culprit most of the time. Be sure your socks fit

properly, and no pebbles or hard materials like a string or rock is in your

shoe, which can be the cause of the bad pressure causing callusses.

[Guest guest]

All I can say is Dr. Bernstein, a diabetes specialist, reported that he

surveyed a bunch of foot and leg amputees, and virtually every one of them

had their calluses removed prior to the foot or leg amputation In fact he

said virtually 100% of them had this occurrence. He also said the way to

prevent calluses is to have proper fitting shoes and to remove the pressure

from the area where the calluses form. You may disagree with me as much as

you like, but I think I would think again about disagreeing with Dr.

Bernstein. Of course he was just reporting his observations over years of

medical practice. He said nothing about blisters and sores, but I am sure

he would find them to be a primary problem for infection also. He was just

reporting the correlation between callus removal and amputations, which is

quite different from blisters, sores, ulcers and amputations. Now you have

heard about it.

All diabetics, never do this

>

> You heard me right. It makes no difference whether or not you are a type1

> or a type2. You should never have calluses removed from your feet by

> filing

> them off or by surgical removal. Almost without exception all foot and

> leg

> amputations of diabetics started with an infection in the foot caused by

> callus removal. The only way to remove calluses is to wear properly

> fitting

> shoes, and keep the pressure off your foot where calluses form. Calluses

> are caused by the pressure due to ill fitting shoes or lack of proper shoe

> inserts. Never go bare foot, if at all possible, even inside your own

> house. Have house slippers available to wear at all times. This warning

> should be especially taken if you have numbness in the feet due to

> diabetic

> neuropathy, which is the culprit most of the time. Be sure your socks fit

> properly, and no pebbles or hard materials like a string or rock is in

> your

> shoe, which can be the cause of the bad pressure causing callusses.

>

>

[Guest guest]

I consider this to be sound advice. I witnessed diabetics having their feet

done while I was on dialysis. The reason was because if calouses were not

removed, then the pressure on the foot from calouses would produce ulcers

which would not heal and lead to further complications. So long as it is

done by trained professionals, like these people on dialysis were, no harm

done. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Ruth

Re: All diabetics, never do this

,

Right-O, no mention of how the caluses were taken off, but as I also said in

another post (to ), there are some other variables that could have

contributed to the amputations that were not mentioned. Yes it is true that

with any type of surgery you run a high risk of infection right after the

surgery, be it a prosthetic eye, a lump on the skin, a callus, whatever. The

body is naturally more open to infection at that time and requires skilled

treatment to get through the recovery so that the infection doesn't come

back with a vengence. IMHO, I firmly believe that if properly removed and

with proper post treatment, unless there are some other mitigating

circumstances, removing the callus _should_ actually keep the patient in

better condition. That's a big IF though. I think it's good to keep this in

mind in weighing what to do for your treatment of diabetes, I just don't

want to see people panic and be afraid to get rid of a callus when it may

benefit them to be rid of it.

Bill Powers