Everyday health Note · 4 min read

Diabetes and feet: the two-minute check that prevents the worst

Nerve damage means a small cut can go unfelt and unhealed. A daily look, shoes indoors and a yearly foot exam keep most problems small

The Pushpa team · 4 sources

Pushpa notes37

Her daily foot check

Cuts, blisters or sores
Colour or swelling
Between the toes
Shoes on, even indoors

Look at her feet

Diabetes affects the feet in two quiet ways. It can damage the nerves, so a blister or a cut from a stray stone goes unfelt. And it can reduce blood flow, so that cut heals slowly or not at all. The US CDC says nerve damage and poor blood flow together put people with diabetes at risk of foot ulcers, and NIDDK warns that a sore that won't heal can lead to amputation

6.2%

of people with diabetes in India have a diabetic foot ulcer (pooled estimate, BMC Public Health 2026)

The daily check

Look at both feet every evening when the shoes come off, NIDDK suggests, including between the toes
Look for cuts, blisters, sores, redness, swelling or changes in colour
If she can't see well or bend easily, a mirror helps, or someone else can look
Trim toenails straight across

Protect them

Never barefoot, and not just in socks, even at home. Both the CDC and NIDDK are firm on this. Soft slippers indoors count

When to call the doctor

NIDDK says to call straight away for a cut, blister or bruise that hasn't started healing after a few days, skin that's red, warm or painful, a callus with dried blood in it, or any blackened, smelly area. The NHS adds blisters or cracked skin, and new pain, tingling or numbness

Ask for her feet to be checked at every doctor's visit, and for a thorough foot exam, including feeling and pulses, at least once a year

How Pushpa helpsPushpa asks about her feet on the evening call when she has diabetes, and a sore that doesn't heal or new numbness goes straight into the family's morning report