Several mornings ago, my wife walked into the kitchen and asked if I was bleeding. I told her no and she said I needed to check because she had a blood spot trail on the kitchen floor. She came out and looked at the bottom of the pair of socks I was wearing and sure enough, there was a blood spot under the big toe. Taking off my sock, my wife discovered that the skin of my big toe had cracked open and was bleeding.

About a week earlier, the skin on the ball of my foot also cracked open, but not enough to bleed, but it was close to bleeding.

I’ve always had dry skin on my feet. Even as a kid, my feet would peel, but then so did my dad’s feet and doctors told us that it was just our genetic makeup.

About 15-years-ago, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It was mostly controlled by diet, when I was good and paid attention to a diabetic diet, but I have to admit, that wasn’t always the case. I was placed on mild medication several years ago and for the most part, I’ve tried to be good. Trying to be good especially after being hospitalized a year and half ago because I wasn’t good, didn’t take my medication and my blood sugar and blood pressure got dangerously high.

This time of the year poses a situation that could be quite dangerous to many people, especially diabetics. It’s bitterly cold throughout much of the nation and most of us stay huddled, safe and warm in our homes with our furnaces producing our much desired warm air.

However, with that warm air, comes the danger. Our furnaces also dry out the air in our homes. Here is where I admit to being a detail person. I have a weather station in my backyard and a monitor inside that also tracks indoor temperature and humidity. These past 2 weeks we had temps below zero in the mornings and not reaching above the freezing level during day. During these past two weeks, I’ve been recording indoor humidity that ranges from 14% to no higher than 20%. Our furnaces dry out the air in our house, which also dries out our skin.

Diabetics already have to deal with drier than normal skin and it’s recommended by doctors and many sources to keep one’s skin moist with whatever type of moisturizer one chooses. It’s important to keep the skin from getting so dry that it cracks open and causes sores that can become infected, especially the feet.

Diabetes often attacks the feet and shin areas and open wounds on the feet are especially dangerous for diabetics. It’s been known that a diabetic could lose his or her foot from an infection that started from an ingrown toenail that became infected. It’s recommended that diabetics never clip their toenails too close to the toe, to avoid the possibility of an ingrown toenail.

During these cold winters when our furnaces are running more, keeping us warm, it’s also drying out the air in our house and possibly causing our feet to develop dry cracks that can bleed and even get infected and cause us to lose a foot.

Keep your skin, especially your feet, well lotioned and avoid going barefoot. Lather your feet with lotion or moisturizer and wear socks, slippers or shoes, which helps to keep the feet from losing moisture.