Stitches

How serious is a cut with stitches on a foot for a diabetic person?

My father is a diabetic, who cut is big toe and ended up with 4 stitches. He has had a course of strong oral antibiotics for 10 days. After the first 10 days of these oral antibiotics his wound was still infected. So his doctor gave him an antibiotic shot and 10 more days of oral antibiotics. Three weeks later the wound is getting dry to where the skin is peeling but now his entire foot upto his ankle is completely swollen, red and warm and still has pus on it.

Public Comments

1. It depends on how severe the diabetes is. As much as you may not like the idea, it would help immensely if you or someone would massage the foot after a warm foot bath. In addition, you may want to use some epsom salts in the warm foot bath to help draw out the impurities caused by the infection. If it gets any worse, make sure that the infection is cultured, if they know what bacteria they are treating, that decreases the guess work.
2. He needs to see the doctor again. It sounds like a serious infection. It is much more serious in a person who is diabetic than a normal healthy individual, as the blood flow to the feet and ankles is frequently reduced.
3. He probably needs to get admitted to a hospital and get antibiotics through an IV drip. At this point, the main thing is to keep the infection from moving up the leg, and secondarily to save the foot. He may come out of this OK, but he needs much more aggressive treatment to save the foot. Get him to a different doctor this time. If you can't get him to a doctor tomorrow, go to the ER. It sounds like he might have gangrene.
4. could be very serious, should be watched closely and under doctors continuous care. diabetics must take extra caution when it comes to the care of their feet and toes. Diabetes can cause loss of feeling in feet and toes therefore any injury may go undetected and become a serious before noticed. The healing process will take a lot longer for diabetics than someone who is not a diabetic.
5. that seems to be really serious. as a diabetic he should alway disinfect the area. he should see the doc again just to make sure the antibiotics are still helping the infection along.
6. I am sorry to say that people with diabetes should be very careful not to get cut or bruised. A diabetics immune system has been compromised because of the disease. Gangrene is now a possibility.
7. He should definitely see the Dr again. If possible, maybe a foot Dr. A podiatrist will know exactly how best to treat foot problems in a diabetic. If that is not possible I'd go to the ER. No offense to the Dr he's already been to, but if it has continued to get worse that tells me he's not sure what he's doing, or he's not treating it aggressively enough. Diabetics take longer to heal in every area of their body b/c their system is compromised to begin with, but even more so in the extremities b/c of circulation problems. I'd say it should be addressed immediately. Amputation is very common in diabetics with problem wounds.