Tiaki Waewae Mate Huka
Diabetic Foot Care

At Care Podiatry, we pride ourselves as being one of the best providers in New Zealand.
Our focuses are quality patient care and successful treatment outcomes.

Our main clinics in Howick and Papatoetoe are custom fitted with the most advanced setup and equipment, operated by highly experienced podiatrists.

Our team of qualified podiatrists are NZ trained and registered with the Podiatry Board of New Zealand. You can be confident that when you visit Care Podiatry, your feet are in safe hands!

We have a team of specialist podiatrist that is experienced with complex foot pain, diabetic ulcers, rheumatoid arthritis, general footcare & aesthetic podiatry.

To ensure that our treatments are offered at the highest level of clinical standards, our podiatrists are practicing under a strict set of clinical protocol designed and monitored by the clinical lead, whom has been awarded with professional and business awards.

To find out if our team of podiatrists can help,
you can call us 0508 GO FEET (46 3338)
or email us: admin@carepodiatry.co.nz

Diabetic Foot Care

  • While type 1 diabetes is often present at birth, type 2 diabetes can develop at any point throughout your life. It occurs when your cells become resistant to a hormone called insulin, which functions to direct sugar out of the bloodstream and into the cells. This means that sugar can build up in the bloodstream and cause damage to the vessels.

  • When we talk about the way that diabetes affects the feet, we talk about the way it affects your sensation and your circulation at the feet.

  • Diabetes causes damage to the nerves in your feet and legs. As the nerves are responsible for our ability to feel by relaying messages from the nerve endings on our skin to the brain, nerve damage means that our ability to feel worsens, can become mixed up, and may eventually be lost altogether. This is called peripheral neuropathy. These altered sensations often affect the extremities, with changes in the feet typically occurring before the hands. Symptoms include:

    Numbness
    Tingling
    Pins and needles
    Burning or pain

    Ultimately, you may completely lose sensation in the feet. Unlike the blanket-like feeling of numbness, any feeling in the affected areas of the foot will simply be absent and you may not even realise that the sensation isn’t there. This is the most dangerous symptom as it renders you vulnerable to incurring an injury such as a cut or burn and not being able to feel it, hence not taking action to treat and manage it. This injury may easily be something small like a pin, nail, or splinter. Any wound that results will be susceptible to infection, and when continued to be left untreated, the area may ulcerate.

  • Diabetes also causes damage to the blood vessels, impairing the blood flow to the feet. A poorer blood supply to the feet means less oxygen and nutrients are delivered to a wound within a certain length of time, meaning that the body will take longer to heal any cuts and breaks in the skin. If blood flow to the feet is impaired, you may experience:

    Cold feet
    Pale skin appearance
    Dry skin
    Brittle nails

    When paired with an increased likelihood for undetected cuts and wounds from a diminished ability to feel, this is a very dangerous combination. It poses a significant risk of infection, ulceration, and at its worst, amputation. Diabetes is currently the leading cause of lower limb amputation, other than traumatic injuries.

  • People with diabetes may suffer foot problems

    Diabetes can have a devastating impact on your feet because of the way it affects your sensation (your ability to feel) and your circulation (the blood flow to your feet). The result is a serious risk for developing wounds, infections and ulcerations on the feet - which is why it’s so important to pay special attention to your feet and why it is referred to as the ‘high-risk’ foot. 

    The symptoms of diabetes on your feet may start small, but will progressively worsen over time. This means that foot care, advice and management strategies need to be specific to the symptoms you’re currently experiencing and that these will change over time. This is why it’s very important to have annual diabetic foot health checks to keep you informed about how to best manage your foot health.

  • Your Podiatrist will start by performing annual assessments of your sensation and circulation, so you know the status of your foot health and your risks. They will give you advice and management strategies to help reduce the risk of complications and achieve the optimum outcomes for your feet.

    During your assessment, every surface of your foot will also be examined, including between your toes, to look for warning signs or changes from your last appointment. If they do find anything out of the ordinary, they will be able to take immediate action on it themselves or refer you appropriately.

    Podiatrists can also help manage any wounds that develop, recommend diabetic-friendly footwear, and use devices like orthotics to help you feel more comfortable on your feet and reduce your risk of injury.

We are proud to be one of the few private clinics in Auckland that offers diabetes foot screen and services by our senior Podiatrists, whom is experienced with diabetes high-risk foot and have clinical background in the secondary care sector.

Whether you need a diabetic foot screening or suffering from an ulcer on your foot, you can be confident that our podiatrist will offer the best of care. We will help direct you onto the right pathway towards healthier feet!

Common Toenail & Skin Problems

  • An ingrown toenail (onychocryptosis) happens when part of the nail pierces the skin, often leading to an infection

    The term ingrown toenail describes the piercing of the skin surrounding a toenail by the nail itself. It can occur on one or both sides of the toenail, and can affect one or both feet. For most people, this will occur in the big toe (hallux), though it can affect the lesser toes too. Once the nail penetrates the skin, the toe becomes vulnerable to complications like infection.

  • A callus or corn is an area of thickened skin that forms at pressure points over bony prominences

    Corns and calluses are both different forms of hard, dead skin that form as a result of friction or pressure. Both can either be painful or painless, depending on their location and size. They both have distinct differences and identifiable features, as described below.

  • Nail fungus infections are caused when fungi infects the nail plate and the soft tissue beneath the nail

    A fungal nail infection, medically referred to as onychomycosis, describes the infiltration of a toenail by a living fungus. This causes a change in the appearance of the toenail as the infection grows. Up to 50% of all abnormal changes to the appearance of toenails are caused by fungus and around 10% of adults suffer from fungal nail infections.

    Fungus, or fungi (plural), are microscopic and so are invisible to the human eye - until they start infecting the nail and causing symptoms. Fungal nail infections are caused by a group of fungi called dermatophytes. They grow and survive by feeding on keratin - a protein that is present in your nails.

  • Plantar warts are small, rough, round growths that are medically known as verrucae and occur on the hands and feet. They’re caused by a virus called the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and are often contracted in childhood. Once you’ve contracted the virus, you’ll always have it in your system, so plantar warts may spontaneously recur throughout your lifetime.

  • Blisters are a small swelling or pocket of fluid in the upper skin layers

    Blisters are the puffy, fluid-filled pockets that develop in the top layer of the skin - and there’s a good chance that you have already had at least one blister at some point in your life. They often appear after wearing tight or new shoes that rub against the skin around your feet and develop very quickly, along with the pain they cause when they’re pressed against.