One of the greatest fears for diabetic people is to develop sores on their legs and feet. If you have these sores, it means your blood sugar levels are uncontrollably high and you need immediate medical attention. But what causes these sores? Let’s find out!
Sores on legs for diabetics are caused by to two main things:
- 1. Damage to blood vessels:
When you have diabetes, it means your blood glucose levels are higher than they should be. This has a lot of ill effects on your body and one of the effects is cell damage. High blood sugar damages your cells in two ways. First, high blood sugar sucks water out of your cells and damages them. Second, high blood sugar acts as a toxin for your cells and damages them directly.
Almost all cells of the body can suffer some degree of damage due to high blood glucose, and cells of the bodies blood vessels are no exception. The blood vessels are like pipes that transport blood to your body cells. When the cells of your blood vessels are damaged they start to swell up. This distorts their architecture and they fail to deliver blood to your body parts.
Your body cells need to get a constant supply of blood to survive. That’s because blood gives your cells oxygen, glucose and other nutrients
- 2. Due to damage to the bodies nerves:
Your body nerves serve as a source of communication between your body parts and your brain. When a part of your body gets injured, the nerves in that area get injured too. These injured nerves then signal the brain that your body has suffered some injury and you should take care of it.
But in diabetes, your nerves lose their ability to communicate with your brain. They just don’t work the way they should. As a result, when you suffer some injury or a small wound, it goes unnoticed. An unnoticed wound then grows into a sore if you do not take care of it in its early stages.
These two factors commonly add up for diabetics and result in sores on legs and feet.