diabetes: diabetic ulcers will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a new shoe sole

WASHINGTON: Scientists have developed a shoe sole that could help heal diabetic ulcers, a condition that often leads patients to lose their toes, feet or legs.

Diabetes can lead to ulcers that patients do not feel or notice before seeing blood. These ulcers can not heal on their own.

Researchers at Purdue University in the United States have made the healing process more portable for those who develop ulcers as a result of diabetes.

"One of the ways to heal these wounds is to give them oxygen," said Babak Ziaie, a professor at Purdue.

"We have created a system that gradually releases oxygen throughout the day so that a patient can have more mobility," Ziaie said.

Diabetic ulcers usually result from hyperglycemia caused by nerve damage that removes any sensation of sensation on the toes or feet.

Without the ability to feel pain, blows and bumps tend to go unnoticed and the skin tissue breaks down forming ulcers. A large amount of sugar in the blood, as well as a dry skin resulting from diabetes, further slow down the healing process of the ulcer.

"We usually treat ulcers by removing devitalized tissue from the wound surface and helping the patient find ways to relieve the affected foot," said Desmond Bell of the Memorial Hospital in the United States.

"The standard of reference for treating an ulcer is that a patient wears a full-contact cast, which provides a protective environment for the foot," Bell said.

"If we could test to what extent this insole provides oxygen to the wound site from the cast, it could then contribute to healing," he said.

The researchers used lasers to shape the silicone rubber into the insoles, then create tanks that release oxygen only to the part of the foot where the ulcer is located.

"Silicone is flexible and has good oxygen permeability," said Hongjie Jiang, a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue.

"Laser machining helps us adjust this permeability and target only the site of the wound, which is hypoxic, rather than poisoning the rest of the foot with too much oxygen," he said. Jiang.

According to the simulations of the team, the insole can provide oxygen at least eight hours a day under the pressure of a person weighing about 53-81 kg.

However, researchers say that the insole can be customized to support any weight.

The team plans to send a package of pre-filled and customized soles to a patient based on the site of the wound, based on the "wound profile" obtained from the doctor's prescription and a picture of the foot.

Then researchers want to create a way to 3D print the entire insole, rather than print a mold in the first place, then make a laser pattern.

They also plan to test the insole on actual diabetic ulcers, to better measure their progress in the healing process.