In this guide
Why Five Minutes Matters
If you live with diabetes, your feet carry more risk than they let you feel. Over time, high blood sugar can quiet the nerves in your feet (peripheral neuropathy) and narrow the vessels that feed them. The result is a dangerous combination: injuries that hurt less and heal slower.
Most serious foot problems do not start serious. They start as a blister from a new shoe, a small cut you never felt, a red spot where pressure builds every day. Caught on day one, these are minor. Discovered weeks later, they can become ulcers — and ulcers are how most diabetes-related amputations begin.
Here is the good news, and it is genuinely good: daily inspection changes the math. Clinical guidelines from the IWGDF and the American Diabetes Association recommend daily foot self-examination for people at elevated risk precisely because early detection works. You are not trying to diagnose anything. You are trying to notice — and noticing takes about five minutes.
Think of it like brushing your teeth: small, boring, daily, and quietly powerful.
This guide never diagnoses. It teaches you to observe, record, and involve your care team early. That is the whole job.
The Daily Check, Step by Step
Pick a consistent time — right after your shower or before bed works well, because your feet are already bare and the light is on.
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1
Tops and sides. Look over the top of each foot, the sides, and around the ankle. Scan for anything new since yesterday.
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2
Soles. Use the mirror on the floor, or photograph the sole with your phone. If bending is hard, ask a family member — this is a great caregiver job.
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3
Between every toe. Gently separate each pair of toes. This is where moisture hides and skin breaks down quietly.
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4
Heels. Check for cracks and dry, thickened skin.
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5
Touch test. Run your hand over each foot, feeling for warm spots, swelling, or anything different from the other foot. Your two feet are each other's best baseline.
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6
Nails. Look for thickening, discoloration, or nails digging into the skin.
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7
Inside your shoes. Before you put shoes on, sweep a hand inside. A pebble you cannot feel can do a day of damage.
Then record it. One line in a journal or one photo per foot. "Both feet clear" is a valuable data point — a streak of normal days is what makes an abnormal day obvious.
What You Are Looking For
You are comparing today's feet to yesterday's feet. Changes matter more than any single finding.
- Redness that does not fade after pressure is removed
- A blister, cut, scrape, or crack — however small
- Shiny, tight, or unusually dry skin
- Calluses that are growing or darkening — dark spots under a callus deserve a call
- One area warmer than the same spot on the other foot
- Skin that looks pale, bluish, or unusually red
- New swelling in one foot or ankle
- A change in the shape of your foot or arch
- Redness or drainage at a nail edge
- White, moist, peeling skin between toes
- New numbness, tingling, or burning
- Pain in a spot that looks normal
None of these findings is a diagnosis — and this guide will never give you one. They are signals to record, photograph, and share. When in doubt, the answer is always the same: contact your care team. Early calls are never wasted calls.
Making It a Habit
The best foot check is the one that actually happens every day. Some proven ways to make it automatic:
When to Call Your Care Team
Some findings should not wait for your next appointment. Contact your care team promptly if you notice:
- Any break in the skin that has not started healing within a day or two
- Redness, warmth, or swelling that is spreading
- Drainage, odor, or dark discoloration anywhere on the foot
- A blister or callus with darkness underneath
- New pain, or the sudden absence of feeling
- One foot or one area persistently warmer than the matching spot on the other foot
- A wound of any size if you have had an ulcer or amputation before
When you call, your daily records become powerful: "I first saw this Tuesday, here are photos from each day since" gives your clinician a running start. You are never bothering anyone by calling early. In diabetic foot care, early is the entire strategy.
Do the whole check in the app
Everything in this guide fits in your pocket. The OpenDiabetic app frames each photo for you, and Bee compares today's feet with yesterday's — then keeps your streak so a normal day is on record and an abnormal one stands out.
Pull-Out Checklists
Print this page. Tape it where you do the check.
Educational content — not medical advice and not a medical device. It never diagnoses. Always involve your care team. © 2026 OpenDiabetic · The Digital Foot Lab.