– Why does untreated diabetes cause parts of limbs to die?
In: Biology
Diabetics can have such large amounts of sugar in the blood that it starts to eat away at nerves/blood vessels towards the ends of limbs. Thereon, reasonably benign scratches/cuts, which for normal people would quickly inspected and treated, are sometimes not even noticed. These relatively minor wounds are then left untreated, and due to the high sugar/poor nutrient intake/circulation, they simply get worse to the point of infection. Even then, these wounds are then sometimes completely ignored (patient may not be able to reach/see the infection in the first place). Eventually the wound reaches a point of no return, it is then literally safer for the patient to simply have the infected limb removed for the greater good.
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