Having diabetes for about 12 years now, there are two things that I watch very closely and have been proud to have never had any issues. The two things are: my feet and my eyes. I have always been someone who runs hot and have never had any circulation issues. Someday I’m sure this will change, but I have perfect vision with my annual results always coming back better than 20/20 with absolutely no signs of damage from diabetes. I can basically read the tiny print of who the company is that created the eye chart when asked, but that’s neither here nor there.
I was on vacation in Scottsdale recently and after three days of wearing nothing but flip flops and enjoying the resort pool (heavily chlorinated), I noticed my heel hurt quite a bit. I didn’t think too much of it at first until later on when I fully inspected my foot. I noticed that the calloused part of my outer right heel had cracked. I freaked out a bit because I’m constantly going into the pool, playing with my kids around the pool and didn’t want to get an infection. I did an internet search right away to find out that this issue is called a “heel fissure’” and you can see images of what it can look like below.
If left untreated, a heel fissure that is deep enough can lead to a serious infection. I used Neosporin every day, caked my heel in Vaseline each night and covered it with a sock. It healed and is now better, but it taught me a lesson. I need to take extra care of my feet to proactively prevent issues like this instead of being reactive.
[source]
[source]
If you have experienced a heel fissure, you know how painful they can be. Share your thoughts in the comments if you would like to add anything.
… keep posting like this … helping diabetics and people (who want to learn about diabetes) is a great service like what u are doing and all the best !
Wow! Good for you for taking care of it immediately. I’ve seen these splits on my feet in the cold weather months and don’t normally pay to close attention. Perhaps I will now!