Preventing diabetic foot ulcers at home: a daily routine
Most diabetic foot ulcers start small and silent. If nerve damage has reduced sensation, the first warning is often something you can see or measure rather than something you feel. A short, consistent daily routine is the single most useful habit you can build.
The five-minute daily check
- Look. Soles, heels, between the toes and the top of the foot. Use a mirror or your phone camera if bending is difficult, or ask someone to help.
- Feel. Run the back of your hand over both feet. A patch that feels warmer or a lump under the skin is worth noting.
- Measure. Take temperatures at the same spots at the same time each day and compare left with right. A difference of about 2.2°C at the same point on the other foot is the figure clinicians commonly treat as a warning.
- Record. Write it down or log it in an app so a pattern over days is visible, not just today's number.
- Act. If the same spot stays hot for two or three days, rest the foot and contact your clinic.
Habits that prevent the damage
- Never walk barefoot, indoors or outdoors.
- Shake out your shoes before putting them on and check the inside lining for ridges, grit or worn seams.
- Break in new footwear gradually and check your feet after each wear.
- Wash and dry daily, especially between the toes, and moisturise the skin but not between the toes.
- Cut nails straight across; leave corns, callus and hard skin to a podiatrist rather than treating them yourself.
- Keep blood glucose, blood pressure and smoking under review with your diabetes team — they affect how well your feet heal.
- Attend your annual foot screening even when nothing hurts.
When to call someone
Contact your podiatry clinic, GP or diabetes nurse the same day for any new break in the skin, a blister, a hot or swollen foot, or a colour change that does not settle. Seek urgent care for pus, spreading redness, fever, or black discolouration. Delay is what turns a small problem into a serious one.
Where PodiaScan helps
PodiaScan turns the measure-and-record steps into an about two-minute task: fourteen readings — seven zones on each foot, six on the sole and one on the top — a daily reminder on your phone, and an automatic alert to your linked clinic if the same zone stays hot for three days in a row. Readings are sent to your clinic monthly, or immediately if you ask.