I have an open sore on the bottom of my foot — do I need to see a doctor?

Posted June 19, 2013, 2:00 am

I have an open sore on the bottom of my foot. Can I just cover it with a Band-Aid until it heals, or do I need to see a doctor?

I am glad you asked this question, because in most circumstances, just covering it with a Band-Aid is a really bad idea.

I’m guessing that this “sore” is more than some redness of the skin. I assume it is a little hole or crater, and that the top skin of the sole of your foot is gone. If that’s the case, what you’ve got is called a foot ulcer. A foot ulcer crater is often surrounded by a border of thickened, callused skin. (I’ve put an illustration below.) Some craters are shallow. In severe ulcers, the red crater may be deep enough to expose tendons or bones. If you have a foot ulcer, you should see your doctor.

People with diabetes are more likely to get severe foot ulcers. That’s because diabetes can cause nerve damage in the feet, which makes them less sensitive to pain or discomfort. People with diabetes can injure their foot significantly and not know it because they experience no pain. As a result, the ulcer can slowly get worse.

People with diabetes are at special risk from having a foot ulcer. Because diabetics often have poor blood supply in their feet, their foot ulcers have more trouble healing. Healing requires a good blood supply to provide energy and a steady flow of immune system cells to do its work.

Foot ulcers are vulnerable to infection. An untreated infection can develop into:

An abscess, or pus-filled pocket;A spreading infection of the skin and underlying fat;A bone infection;Gangrene, an area of dead, darkened body tissue.

If you have good circulation, your doctor can treat your foot ulcer by trimming away diseased tissue and removing any nearby callused skin. The doctor will apply a dressing and may prescribe specialized footwear to relieve pressure on the affected area. If there is a possibility of infection, you may need to take antibiotics.

Foot ulcers that do not respond to more conservative therapy may require surgery. If you have poor circulation, you may need surgery to correct blood-flow problems in your leg arteries. And if the circulation is poor enough, there may be no way to cure a foot ulcer, and the recurrent infections that develop in that ulcer, except by amputating the foot.

So if you’ve had one foot ulcer, you should see your doctor about it. After the ulcer is cured, you should take steps to help prevent future ulcers:

Examine your feet every day to check for rubbed areas, cracks or calluses.Wash your feet every day using mild soap and warm water. Dry thoroughly. Apply moisturizing lotion to dry areas.Wear roomy, well-cushioned shoes and soft, absorbent socks. window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({appId: "199616670120169", status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true});}; (function() { var e = document.createElement("script"); e.async = true; e.src = document.location.protocol + "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js"; document.getElementById("fb-root").appendChild(e);}());

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For Restaurants, Healthier Menus May Mean Healthier Bottom Line

By Mary Elizabeth Dallas

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthDay News) -- A leaner menu may lead to a fatter wallet for those invested in the restaurant industry, research suggests.

According to a new analysis, business improved when restaurant chains offered more low-calorie fare.

After monitoring 21 of the largest restaurant chains in the United States for five years, researchers found that those that increased the amount of reduced-calorie options they served had better sales growth, greater increases in customer traffic and stronger gains in total servings than their competitors who offered fewer lower-calorie options.

"Consumers are hungry for restaurant meals that won't expand their waist lines, and the chains that recognize this are doing better than those that don't," the report's lead author, Hank Cardello, said in a news release from the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"The bottom line is that it's good business to sell more lower-calorie and better-for-you products," said Cardello, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and director of the institute's Obesity Solutions Initiative. "This holds true for major food and beverage companies and for restaurants."

The researchers analyzed market research data and the annual reports of fast-food chains, such as McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King and Taco Bell, as well as sit-down chains, such as Applebee's, Olive Garden, Chili's and Outback Steakhouse. They also developed calorie criteria to assess the chains' menus with the help of colleagues from the Nutrition Coordinating Center at the University of Minnesota.

Lower-calorie main-course menu items had no more than 500 calories. Drinks were considered lower-calorie if they had 50 or fewer calories per 8 ounces. Appetizers, side dishes and desserts with no more than 150 calories were also considered lower-calorie options.

The analysis revealed that between 2006 and 2011, lower-calorie foods and beverages outperformed other menu items in 17 of the 21 restaurant chains. The chains that increased their reduced-calorie options saw a boost in business, including a 5.5 percent jump in same-store sales, a nearly 11 percent increase in customer traffic and about a 9 percent increase in total food and beverage servings.

Meanwhile, the chains that offered fewer lower-calorie servings had a 5.5 percent drop in same-store sales, a nearly 15 percent decline in traffic and about a 16 percent reduction in total servings, the investigators found.

The report, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, also revealed that lower-calorie food servings increased as a percentage of total servings across all 21 chains. Over the course of the study, the chains had an increase of roughly 472 million orders for lower-calorie foods and beverages. Meanwhile, servings of items that did not meet the lower-calorie criteria dropped by 1.3 billion.

Dr. James Marks, senior vice president and director of the Health Group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said the report "shows that companies can serve both their interest in healthy profits and their customers' interest in healthier eating. We need more companies to make this shift, and now they have even more reasons to do so."

The researchers pointed out all the chains included in the report have a combined $102 billion in annual U.S. sales and 49 percent of the revenue of the top 100 restaurant chains.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about healthy food environments.

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