Diabetics warned about risks to feet and eyes

Press, 5 September 1989, Page 32

Diabetics warned about risks to feet and eyes

NZPA-AAP Sydney Diabetics have been warned to be careful about their shoe size because ill-fitting shoes can lead to serious injury and even amputation. They have also been urged, on the eve of Australia’s Diabetes Awareness Week, to have regular eye tests to reduce their high rate of blindness and eyesight problems.

A Sydney endocrinologist, Dr Stephen Colagiuri, said diabetics often dismissed foot problems, although they were the most common cause of their admission to hospital.

Damaged nerves and blood vessels meant many sufferers were unaware of injured feet, and blisters caused by poor-fitting shoes quickly turned into serious ulcers.

Without early treatment

these could require surgery and sometimes amputation, 20 times more common in diabetics than the rest of the population. “It can all be prevented provided they take reasonable care of their feet with ideally daily and at least weekly inspections,” he said.

Dr Colagiuri, director of the Prince of Wales Hospital’s diabetes education centre, also advised diabetics, particularly the elderly who might have trouble checking their feet, to visit a podiatrist regularly.

A Newcastle eye specialist, Dr Paul Mitchell, said simple measures would prevent another complication of diabetes, damaged vision. Dr Mitchell, soon to be an associate professor at Sydney University and Westmead Hospital, said diabetes was the most

common cause of blindness in Australians under the age of 65. About 33 per cent of diabetics had some eyesight damage and about 11 per cent had vision-threatening problems because of the way the disease affected the eye’s blood vessels. New early treatment involving lasers meant this problem could be greatly reduced, but many diabetics did not realise the importance of regular eye check-ups.

“We still see some patients who have never seen an eye doctor and come in because their vision has blacked out,” Dr Mitchell said. “The best time to see the ophthalmologist is when there are early signs of damage within the eye but no effect on vision.”