Diabetic Foot Ulcers
DIABETIC WOUND & LIMB PROTECTION
Diabetic foot ulcers are open sores or wounds that develop on the foot or toes in patients with diabetes. Care focuses on evaluating the wound, reducing pressure, checking for infection and circulation concerns, and protecting healing before the problem becomes more serious.
- Open sores need evaluation
- Pressure, infection, or circulation may contribute
- Diabetes can delay healing
- Early care helps protect tissue
Evaluation & Next Steps
- Clear severity assessment and next steps
- Supportive care and recovery guidance
- Care across 4 Las Vegas locations
Call: (702) 703-4340
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Quick Summary
Key takeaway: A diabetic foot ulcer is an open sore or wound in a patient with diabetes. Early evaluation helps identify pressure, infection, circulation, nerve, and healing factors that may affect recovery.
Evaluation usually focuses on wound location, depth, drainage, odor, infection signs, pressure points, circulation, sensation, footwear, diabetes history, and whether additional wound, vascular, imaging, or limb-preservation care may be needed.
Overview
What Are Diabetic Foot Ulcers?
Diabetic foot ulcers are open wounds or areas of skin breakdown that commonly develop on the bottom of the foot, toes, heel, or pressure points. They may begin as a blister, callus, cut, shoe-rub injury, or pressure area and may worsen when sensation, circulation, pressure, infection risk, or healing ability is affected.
Why Evaluation Matters
A diabetic foot ulcer can become harder to treat if the underlying cause is not addressed. Evaluation helps determine whether pressure relief, wound care, infection monitoring, circulation testing, imaging, debridement, or coordinated foot, ankle, wound, and vascular care may be needed.
Symptoms
Diabetic foot ulcers can look different depending on depth, location, pressure, circulation, infection risk, and nerve involvement. Some ulcers are painful, while others cause little discomfort when reduced sensation is present.
Open Sore or Skin Breakdown
An ulcer may appear as an open area on the foot, toe, heel, or ankle that drains, crusts, widens, or does not close as expected.
Redness, Swelling, or Drainage
Increasing redness, warmth, swelling, odor, or drainage may suggest infection, inflammation, or worsening tissue irritation.
Pain, Pressure, or Numbness
Some ulcers are painful or tender, while others cause little pain because diabetes-related neuropathy can reduce protective sensation.
Callus or Tissue Changes
Thick callus, darkened skin, exposed tissue, color change, or a wound under a pressure point may need prompt evaluation.
Seek care now if…
Prompt evaluation is recommended if an ulcer is rapidly worsening, has spreading redness, increasing drainage, foul odor, fever, severe pain, black tissue, exposed bone, new numbness, or major color change.
Causes & Risk Factors
Diabetic foot ulcers often develop when pressure, reduced sensation, circulation problems, skin breakdown, infection risk, footwear friction, or foot deformity interfere with normal protection and healing.
Common Causes
- Pressure points or shoe friction
- Callus, blister, cut, or skin breakdown
- Diabetes-related neuropathy
- Poor circulation or PAD
- Foot deformity or Charcot changes
- Infection or deeper tissue irritation
The cause is not always obvious from appearance alone. Testing may be needed when an ulcer is deep, recurrent, infected, worsening, or not improving.
Risk Factors
- Diabetes or neuropathy
- Peripheral artery disease
- Prior diabetic foot ulcer
- Charcot deformity or foot-shape change
- Poor footwear fit
- Smoking, kidney disease, or immune suppression
Diagnosis
Diagnosis focuses on the ulcer itself and the factors that may be preventing healing, including pressure, infection, circulation, swelling, sensation, footwear, and underlying medical conditions.
When deeper infection is suspected, evaluation may also consider bone infection, also called osteomyelitis.
Typical Evaluation
- Review ulcer history and timeline
- Measure size, depth, and drainage
- Check skin, pulses, and sensation
- Assess pressure and footwear factors
- Consider culture, labs, or imaging
- Order circulation testing when needed
What to Bring
- Current medication list
- Diabetes or vascular history
- Prior wound or ulcer records
- Recent imaging or lab results
- Shoes, inserts, or offloading devices
Treatment Options
Treatment depends on ulcer depth, infection risk, circulation, pressure, swelling, sensation, diabetes history, and overall health. Care may involve wound protection, offloading, infection monitoring, vascular evaluation, and close follow-up.
Related care: Treatment planning may include diabetic foot care, wound care, pressure relief, infection monitoring, circulation evaluation, and coordinated foot, ankle, and vascular care when healing is delayed.
Risk Management
- Diabetes control
- Smoking cessation
- Medication review
- Nutrition and hydration
Wound Protection
- Pressure relief
- Dressing guidance
- Infection monitoring
- Footwear or offloading review
Vascular / Image-Guided Care
- Circulation testing
- Ultrasound or imaging
- Blood-flow evaluation
- Treatment planning if needed
Follow-Up Evaluation
- Ulcer not improving
- Increasing drainage
- New redness or odor
- Limb-risk concerns
Recovery
Healing depends on ulcer depth, circulation, pressure control, infection risk, blood sugar control, sensation, footwear, and how consistently the care plan is followed. Some ulcers improve steadily with protection and monitoring, while others need more advanced evaluation.
What Helps Most
- Pressure relief: Reduce friction and weight on the ulcer area.
- Consistent dressings: Follow wound-care instructions closely.
- Circulation support: Complete recommended vascular testing.
- Diabetes control: Blood sugar control supports healing.
- Foot checks: Watch for new sores, drainage, or color change.
When to Follow Up
- No healing progress: The ulcer is not getting smaller.
- More drainage: Fluid, odor, or redness is increasing.
- New pain or numbness: Sensation changes should be checked.
- Skin color changes: Dark, pale, or blue areas need attention.
- Fever or spreading redness: Infection signs need prompt care.
Frequently Asked Questions
A diabetic foot ulcer is an open sore or wound that develops on the foot or toes in a patient with diabetes. It may be related to pressure, reduced sensation, circulation problems, infection risk, or delayed healing.
A diabetic foot ulcer should be evaluated promptly if it is open, draining, worsening, painful, red, swollen, odorous, slow to heal, or located under a pressure point.
Slow healing can happen when pressure, poor circulation, swelling, infection, diabetes, or neuropathy interferes with normal tissue repair.
Yes. Reduced blood flow can limit oxygen and nutrients needed for healing. Circulation testing may be recommended when an ulcer is slow to heal or limb risk is a concern.
Care may include wound evaluation, dressings, pressure relief, infection monitoring, circulation evaluation, imaging, and follow-up to track healing progress.
Follow dressing and offloading instructions, reduce pressure on the area, keep follow-up visits, manage diabetes if present, avoid tobacco, and report worsening symptoms early.
Locations
LVVIS West Side Consultation Office
8930 W Sunset Rd, Suite 350
Las Vegas, NV 89148
Consultations and vascular evaluations
LV2 Limb & Vascular Division
8930 W Sunset Rd, Suite 350
Las Vegas, NV 89148
Limb preservation and podiatry partnership care
LVVIS East Procedure Office
2250 E Flamingo Rd, Suite 100
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Procedures, diagnostics, and circulatory care
LVVIS West Side Surgical Center
6120 S Fort Apache Rd, Suite 100
Las Vegas, NV 89148
Advanced vascular and interventional procedures