As if there’s not enough on the to-do list for diabetes, we recommend adding healthy skin care to your list to prevent the most common diabetic skin problems.
Similarly, hyperglycemia levels can damage blood vessels in your fingers, toes, eyes and organs. These can also lead to mild problems in the skin.
In this article, you will learn about the most common diabetic skin problems, how they are treated, and what steps can be taken to keep your skin healthy as a diabetic person.
Common Diabetic Skin Problems
These skin problems should be taken seriously. Even a seemingly simple color change on the skin may seem harmless, but it can indicate something more important is developing.
Skin problems are one of the earliest signs of developing skin problems, especially in undiagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes, so referral to a dermatologist can actually lead to a person’s first diagnosis of diabetes.
“Diabetes can cause several types of skin problems,” explained Michele S. Green and dermatologist at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York City. The majority are preventable with healthy blood glucose control, she added. And fortunately, many of them can be alleviated or completely fixed by healthy blood glucose control.
If you suspect you are experiencing symptoms similar to any of these skin problems, don’t hesitate to contact your doctor or visit an emergency clinic.
itch
“In many cases, it is caused by insufficient circulation in diabetic patients and excessively dry skin,” explains Green.
How it is treated: Some itching is part of another skin condition listed below, but the American Diabetes Association (ADA) says it is often easy to treat if it is a result of inadequate circulation and dryness.
In addition to improving your overall blood sugar level, the ADA recommends limiting the frequency of bathing you. Baths tend to dry out the skin even more, increasing itching. When bathing, use mildly scentless soap and apply plenty of scentless moisturizers every time you bathe.
Necrotizing lipodica
“This is a disease caused by changes in vascular health that appears as a dull, red raised area that is itchy and painful,” explains Green.
How it is treated: Very rare, the ADA says women are more likely to get into this condition.
“Unless the pain is open, there’s no need to handle it.” If the pain is open, contact your doctor or immediately access emergency care.
Diabetic Dermatosis
“This condition appears as a brown, scaly patch that looks similar to an “age spot,” causing it to change in small blood vessels under the skin,” explains Green.
How it is treated: This condition is harmless and requires no treatment. However, improving your overall blood sugar level will prevent it from worsening.
Diabetes flow (diabetic blisters)
“Blisters that look like ‘burn blisters’ mainly affect people with diabetic neuropathy. These blisters are often large and painless and disappear when blood sugar levels improve,” explains Midori.
How it is treated: These types of blisters can heal on their own within about three weeks, but most importantly, it improves your overall blood sugar level. Otherwise, they develop frequently and become easily infected.
Eruption Xanthomatosis
“This skin condition is characterized by a stiff, yellow, green-gray bump that appears on the hands, feet, arms and legs of diabetics with consistently high blood sugar levels,” explains Green.
How it is treated: Simply put, the only way to heal and treat this condition is to improve blood sugar levels.
Digital sclerosis
“In this condition, the skin is thick, tight, shiny, and the patient’s joints become stiff and inflexible,” explains Green.
How it is treated: One of the more common skin problems for diabetics, ADA says the only treatment for this condition is to improve your overall blood sugar level.
Disseminated granuloma annulare
“This condition appears to be a skin-colored rash, sometimes shaped like a ring or arc, and often appears on the hands and feet,” explains Green.
How it is treated: In some cases, treatment is not required, but more serious cases can be treated with steroids.
Nigricans for Acanthosis
“This skin condition manifests as a brown area around the gro diameter, armpits, neck, hands, elbows or knees, and is common in overweight people,” explains Green.
How it is treated: According to the ADA, the best treatment is to lose weight.
Common Diabetic Skin Infections
There are two types of infections that can cause skin health due to high blood sugar levels and have serious consequences.
Bacterial infection
Bacterial infections can occur in the eyes (angle), generally boiling on the feet and hands, hair follicles (folitis), tissues just below the skin (carbuncles), and around the nails.
“Inflamed tissue is usually hot, swollen, red and painful,” explains the ADA. “Several different organisms can cause infections. The most common is Staphylococcus, also known as Staphylococcus.”
Fortunately today, there are several effective and life-saving antibiotic treatments for bacterial infections in diabetics.
If you think you have an infection, don’t wait. Get to primary care or emergency care immediately. Untreated bacterial infections can cause amputation or death.
Fungal infection
This yeast-like fungus, also known as “Candida albicans,” often produces itchy, moist red rash surrounded by blisters and scales.
Fungal infections occur most easily in areas of the body where the skin folds to itself, under the chest, between the fingers and toes, under the corners of the mouth, under the unenclosed male foreskin, under the armpits, under the armpits, and in areas of the body where there is no air to dry out the air in the armpits and diameters.
People with high blood sugar levels are other common types of infections that people with high blood sugar levels tend to develop, such as athletes’ feet (ring-shaped itching patches), vaginal yeast infections, and jock Ōcūtz.
Without treatment, any type of infection can easily threaten your feet, legs, toes, or entire hands. Do not ignore any signs or symptoms of infection. Check out our primary and emergency care immediately.
Tips for healthy skin care to prevent diabetes skin problems
Unfortunately, skin care is another item on the to-do list for diabetes. But that’s important!
Below are seven tips for daily skin care to prevent and manage skin problems in diabetes.
Improves blood sugar levels. “Most skin problems are the result of uncontrolled blood glucose levels,” Green said.
Keep your skin clean and dry as much as possible. This may mean that you will change your clothes more frequently during the day if you tend to sweat a lot. For example, changing underwear or undershirts midway through the day can help reduce skin problems in the gro diameter and underarms.
Avoid hot baths and showers. Hot water is not good for anyone’s skin. Not to mention people with diabetes who are at risk for other skin problems. It’s warm, not temperature, but choose not temperature. It’s too hot when your water temperature leaves your skin looking red after the shower.
Use high quality natural scentless lotion and shampoo. Cheap lotions with a variety of artificial scents can make your skin even worse. Choose a high quality lotion or something simple like pure aloe vera or cocoa butter. And don’t get lotion between the toes, where excess moisture can nourish the growth of potential fungi.
Handle cuts quickly – don’t ignore them. If your blood sugar level is usually high, even the most minor cuts can be bothering you and can become infected. A few ointments or medicated creams may help, but always consult your doctor before applying anything to the cut. Examine the cut daily to make sure it is healed properly. If it becomes increasingly red, swollen or ooze, contact your primary or emergency care quickly. A simple cut can lead to serious infections that can threaten your entire foot or hand.
Use a humidifier on dry months. During the winter, cold and dry air can exacerbate some diabetic skin problems. Using a humidifier can help you manage problems with excessively dry skin.
Avoid feminine hygiene sprays. Adding all sorts of water to areas of the body that are already suffering from water only exacerbates skin problems in diabetes. Instead, change underwear mid-day to aid in odor and moisture.
Your skin is a protective barrier to your entire body. Paying close attention to it and helping to ensure it is healthy will help ensure that the rest of you are healthy too.
