Conditions
Foot wounds and diabetic foot conditions
Plain-language guides to the wounds we treat and the problems behind them: what they are, how they’re evaluated, and the full range of treatment, including when surgery is the step that saves the foot.
Understanding foot wounds
Four kinds of problem
Diabetic foot ulcers
Sores that form where numbness, pressure and foot shape meet, usually on the sole or the toes. They heal best when the pressure comes off, and they stay healed when it stays off.
Other wounds
Pressure sores on the heel, ulcers near the ankle from leg swelling, surgical wounds that have opened up, and puncture wounds from stepping on something sharp.
Infection
Infection of the skin, the deeper tissues or the bone. With diabetes the warning signs can be quiet, and a deep infection may need surgery the same day.
Circulation, Charcot and amputation
Narrowed arteries that starve a wound of blood, tissue that has died, a foot that softens and collapses, and new problems after part of a foot has been removed.
Condition guides
Diabetic foot ulcers
Condition
Diabetic foot ulcers
Open sores on the feet of people with diabetes, and the step-by-step care, including surgery when it’s needed, that aims to heal them and keep them closed.
Condition
Ulcers from foot deformity
Ulcers that form over bent toes, bunions and prominent bones on a foot with reduced feeling, and how offloading and surgery heal them.
Condition
After an ulcer heals
How to keep a healed diabetic foot ulcer from coming back, from protective shoes and daily checks to surgery that reduces the pressure behind it.
Condition
Foot wounds and kidney disease
Foot ulcers and wounds in people with advanced kidney disease or on dialysis, who face a higher risk and need circulation testing and wound care, with any surgery planned alongside their kidney care.
Other wounds
Condition
Heel ulcers and pressure injuries
Wounds and pressure damage over the heel, often from bed rest, a cast or numb feet, and the care and surgery that heal them.
Condition
Venous leg ulcers
Open sores on the lower leg, commonly near the inner ankle, caused by high pressure in leaky or blocked leg veins.
Condition
Non-healing surgical wounds
Foot and ankle incisions that open up or stop healing after surgery, and the wound care and surgery that help them close.
Condition
Puncture wounds of the foot
A nail, piece of glass or other sharp object driven into the sole, which usually heals but can carry infection deep into the foot.
Infection
Condition
Diabetic foot infections
An infection of the skin, deeper tissue or bone of the foot in a person with diabetes, usually starting in a wound.
Condition
Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
An infection of the bone in the foot, usually spreading from a diabetic foot ulcer, treated with culture-based antibiotics and often surgery to remove the infected bone.
Condition
Necrotizing infections
A rare, fast-spreading infection beneath the skin of the foot or leg that needs emergency surgery.
Circulation, Charcot and amputation
Condition
Peripheral artery disease
Narrowed leg arteries that starve a foot wound of blood, and the vascular procedures and foot surgery that aim to restore circulation, heal the wound and keep the foot.
Condition
Gangrene
Toe or foot tissue that has died from poor blood flow, infection or injury, and the care that aims to save the rest of the foot.
Condition
Charcot foot
Inflammation that weakens and collapses the bones of a numb foot, and the casting and surgery that keep the foot stable, ulcer-free and walking.
Condition
After partial foot amputation
Why new wounds form after a toe or partial foot amputation, and how footwear, regular check-ups and targeted surgery protect the foot that remains.
Symptom guides
Start with what you’ve noticed — a color change, swelling, pain at night — and see what it can mean and when to get help.
Symptom guide
Red, hot, swollen foot
How infection, active Charcot, gout and a blood clot differ when a foot with diabetes turns red, hot and swollen, and why it needs a call the same day.
Symptom guide
Black or discolored toes
How to tell a bruised toenail from melanoma, poor circulation, blue toe syndrome, gangrene and frostbite, and which color changes need same-day or emergency care.
Symptom guide
Foot pain at night
How to recognize ischemic rest pain, a warning sign of severely narrowed leg arteries, tell it apart from diabetic nerve pain and night cramps, and get help quickly.
Diagnosis guides
How a wound and its blood supply are evaluated, and how to think about a second opinion before an amputation.
Diagnosis guide
Circulation tests
How ankle and toe pressures, Doppler waveforms, TcPO2 and artery imaging measure blood flow to a foot wound, and how the results guide healing, surgery and vascular referral.
Diagnosis guide
How wounds are evaluated
How a foot wound is evaluated, from the exam and measurements to the probe-to-bone test, cultures, X-rays, MRI, bone biopsy and circulation checks.
Diagnosis guide
Second opinion before amputation
When a second opinion before amputation is worth getting, when surgery can’t wait, what decides whether a foot can be saved, when amputation is the better choice, and how to prepare.
Where wounds form
Where foot ulcers usually start
Swipe sideways to see the whole drawing.
Looking for everyday foot care, such as nails, calluses, orthotics or a sports injury? Visit Ozturk Foot & Ankle. Nerve pain, numbness or burning? See the Lower Extremity Nerve Institute. Planning foot or ankle surgery for a bunion, a tendon or an ankle problem? See the Center for Lower Extremity Surgery. Not sure where to start? Request an appointment.
Appointments
Talk with us about a wound that isn’t healing
A visit can show what is keeping the wound open and what will help it close: careful wound care first, and surgery when it is the step that saves the foot. See us within a day or two for any foot wound that isn’t healing, especially with diabetes.