When most people think about diabetes complications, things like blindness, organ failure, and other major medical problems come to mind. Diabetes skin infection isn’t generally one of the first things that come to mind.  But perhaps it should. Diabetes skin infection can result in anything from amputations that will seriously affect the quality of life to infections that result in death. Although you don’t have to be diabetic to get a skin infection, for patients with diabetes, skin infection is usually much more serious.

 

What are some Diabetic Skin Infection Types to be Concerned with?

 

  • Bacterial infections. These can range in seriousness from something as seemingly harmless as a boil or a sty to something as serious as a staph infection. When any type of bacterial skin infection, diabetes tends to make it worse, and harder to heal. They don’t all end with serious consequences but they can.
  • Fungal infections are a type of diabetes skin infection that will need to be treated with medication. Canidida albicans is a yeast-like fungus that is responsible for many of the troubling fungal infections that diabetics get. It causes itchy rashes and red areas on the skin with tiny blisters and scales. These blisters can be entry points for more serious infections, especially on the feet. In a patient with diabetes skin infection in the feet sometimes result in amputation.
  • Disseminated Granuloma Annulare sounds worse than it usually is but can become serious enough to make a trip to your doctor necessary and require steroid medication to be cleared up.  It’s characterized by sharply defined, ring-shaped, or arc-shaped raised areas on the skin. It usually appears on the fingers and/or ears and occasionally on the trunk. The rash is typically red, reddish-brown or sometimes skin colored.
  • Necrobiosis Lipoidica Diabeticorum is a diabetes skin infection that is caused by changes in blood vessels that diabetes causes and is similar to diabetic dermopathy. It usually affects the lower legs and appears as raised, yellow, and waxy areas, often with a purple border. Although rare, it will require medical treatment if any of the sores break open.
  • Scleroderma Diabeticorum is another uncommon condition that causes a thickening of the skin. It affects the skin on the back of the neck and upper back. This diabetes skin condition can be treated by bringing blood glucose levels under control. The use of lotions will also help keep the skin soft. It can be unsightly.

 

All of these conditions are less severe if you have your blood sugar under control, so do whatever it takes to manage your diabetes.