How do vascular diseases affect the feet?
Your feet are the body parts furthest away from your heart. Your circulatory system has to work harder to get blood down to your feet. Any complications with the veins or arteries can first show up with symptoms in your feet, including:
- Pain when walking, exercising or on the tops of your feet or toes during rest
- Pale feet when elevated, showing lack of blood flow
- Discolored feet
- Ulcers
- Swelling
- Difficulty moving or flexing your feet
- Low or no pulse (which you can normally feel on the arch of your foot)
- Numbness and tingling
Peripheral artery disease, deep vein thrombosis, chronic venous insufficiency and other vascular diseases elsewhere in the body can affect your feet. Alternatively, your feet can also indicate problems elsewhere in the body. If you have vascular problems in your feet, you’re more likely to have critical limb ischemia and cardiovascular disease.
What kind of care do your feet need when you have a vascular disease?
To fix the problems with your feet, you first need to fix the vascular condition causing it. Because there’s no other cure to your foot problems — only monitoring or management. When you have vascular disease, you need a regular physical foot exam. Your doctor will look for changes in your feet and assess your pain and sensation.
Are there any risks with vascular foot care?
Vascular foot care consists of observation, lifestyle modification and occasionally medication. So the only risks come from not taking proper care of your feet. With poor blood flow, even small things like cuts, scrapes, ingrown toenails and blisters can turn into big problems. Sometimes those problems go unnoticed until they are cause for amputation.
How often do you need foot care for vascular disease?
When you have PAD, DVT, CVI or another vascular disease causing problems with your foot, a foot exam will be a routine part of your office visits. Your doctor will provide you with any necessary lifestyle changes or medications. But most of the foot care must come on your own at home in order to prevent foot complications. You should practices these healthy foot habits every day:
- Wash your feet with mild soap and warm water.
- Fully dry wet feet with a gentle towel — especially between the toes.
- Moisturize the tops and bottoms of your feet to prevent dryness, cracking and cuts.
- Check and trim hangnails, sharp edges and other issues with your toenails.
- Inspect your feet for rashes, corns, calluses, cuts, bruises, redness, swelling, sores and any other changes.
- Wear socks and shoes that fit right — at all times, indoors and out — to prevent damage to your feet.
- Stay active to keep blood flowing to your feet by walking, swimming, biking or other low-impact activities.
- Move your feet regularly while sitting or elevate them to maintain blood flow during long sedentary stretches.
What should I expect after receiving foot care?
With proper foot care, at home and from your provider, you can expect to have healthy feet for years to come. Prevention is the best medicine for vascular foot problems. You can count on your vascular team to give you the proper treatment plan to keep your feet healthy and improve blood flow.