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Media Center
MedStar Health Educates Patients about Lower-Extremity Complications Caused by Diabetes
11/02/2012
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Megan Loewe
410-554-2781
megan.r.loewe@medstar.net
Baltimore—November is American Diabetes Month and the experts at the MedStar Wound Healing Center at MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital, a member of Healogics™, remind patients of the dangers of diabetes. An estimated 23.6 million Americans suffer from some form of diabetes, a life changing disease that can cause serious health complications, including lower-extremity amputations.
Every hour seven people across the country lose a foot or leg to the disease, which is the leading cause of lower-limb amputations not caused by accidents. According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly one in three people with diabetes ages 40 and older have at least one area on their feet that lacks feeling due to nerve damage. Those at greatest risk include diabetics who have difficulty controlling their blood sugar, high cholesterol, weight or blood pressure.
The experts at the MedStar Wound Healing Center advise diabetics to inspect their feet each day and report any changes in a lower extremity wound to their healthcare provider. Physicians at the Center also urge people with diabetes to seek medical attention if they experience any of the following symptoms, identified as the most common indicators of lower-extremity complications:
• pain in the legs or cramping in the buttocks, thighs or calves during physical activity;
• tingling, burning or painful feet;
• loss of sense of touch or the ability to feel heat or cold in the feet;
• changes in the shape, color or temperature of the feet;
• hair loss on the toes, feet and lower legs;
• dry or cracked skin on the feet;
• thick and yellow toenails or fungus infections between the toes; and
• blisters, sores, infected corns and ingrown toenails.
Statistically, one in 20 diabetics will develop a wound on the legs or feet each year. The risk of amputations can be reduced by 45 to 85 percent through foot care programs that emphasize risk assessment, education, treatment and referrals to specialists.
State-of-the-art equipment and leading-edge therapies also are playing a role in reducing the risk of amputation. The Wound Healing Center offers hyperbaric oxygen therapy, negative pressure wound therapy, bio-engineered skin substitutes, biological and biosynthetic dressings and growth factor therapies.
For more information about the MedStar Wound Healing Center, click here.
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About MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital
MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital (medstargoodsam.org) is a 303-bed community teaching facility located at the corner of Loch Raven Boulevard and Belvedere Avenue in northeast Baltimore. With Centers of Excellence in orthopedics, rheumatology, rehabilitation, burn reconstruction, and renal care, as well as a certified Stroke Center and winner of the Delmarva Foundation Excellence Award for Quality Improvement for four years in a row, MedStar Good Samaritan serves people throughout Maryland, the Mid-Atlantic and internationally in these advanced specialties. MedStar Good Samaritan is part of MedStar Health (medstarhealth.org), a not-for-profit, regional healthcare system with nine hospitals and more than 20 other health-related services in the Maryland and Washington, D.C., region.
About Healogics, Inc.
Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., Healogics is the largest provider of wound care and related disease management in the country. Healogics and its affiliated companies manage more than 500 Wound Care Centers® in the nation. Through a connected network of its centers, partner hospitals, academic medical center partners, patients and families, Healogics employs a rigorous scientific approach that explores, tests, finds and develops the clinically proven methods, protocols, pathways and technologies which reintroduce the body's innate ability to heal. For more information, please visit healogics.com or to find a Wound Care Center near you, please call 1-800-373-HEAL (4325).
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