It is well known that diabetics are at risk for poor wound healing and infections. This leads many doctors and patients lean away from surgery. Some surgeries are necessary and can be debated, but other surgeries are elective and not life threatening. In Diabetics, there is a strong trend towards conservative care and surgery is nearly taken off the table for these patients. Can you have a safe surgery as a diabetic?
Diabetes is a disease that slowly affects the entire body. Diabetics have decreased blood flow, decreased sensation, and a compromised immune system. These problems do not happen overnight. but rather progress in relation to the blood glucose levels. The higher the blood sugars, the faster the disease progresses and the greater the damage it causes on the body.
Having surgery creates a wound and damages the surrounding tissues. During the recovery time, your body is trying to heal the damage the surgery has created including the wound in the skin. With decreased blood supply, a diabetic has a more difficult time heeling. Blood carries the necessary nutrients t and tools to promote wound healing.
It is very important for your body sense pain. After surgery, your body needs rest and time to recover. Nerves send important information from the surgical site to the brain to help guide the healing process. Diabetics suffer from neuropathy. The high blood sugar damages the nerves and alters a diabetic’s ability to sense pain.
There has been much research on the risks and benefits for diabetics to have elective surgery procedures. Research shows that the incidence of complication in elective foot and ankle surgery is less than 5%. In Diabetics the complication rate is about 13%. Further research has shown that uncomplicated diabetics, or those without neuropathy or peripheral vascular disease has an insignificant increase in risk.
If you are considering surgery and you are a diabetic, it is important to have a full work up. You should have a test done to check the blood flow in the legs. PVD, or peripheral vascular disease, is very common in the diabetic population and in the elderly. This can severely effect your ability to heel. Tests can also be done to determine your sensation lost. If you are area healthy diabetic with well controlled blood sugars with no other medical complication, surgery may still be an option for you.
