- Diabetes can reduce the capacity of the small blood vessels (capillaries) to deliver adequate blood supply to the tissues. Diabetes can also diminish the sensory responses in our feet so that our awareness of changes in temperature, pain, and touch can become lowered.
- Even in well controlled diabetes, periodic mild increases in blood glucose and altered haemoglobin will present an increased risk of infection.
- For these reasons diabetic patients receive regular testing for vascular sufficiency and peripheral neuropathy as part of their treatment programme.