Posts for tag: PAD

For many people, their feet stay hidden away most of the time in shoes and socks and people rarely pay attention to subtle changes occurring in their feet. Some common changes that are often ignored could be an early indicator of more serious problems affecting your heart or circulation. Hairless toes are often a sign that not enough blood is being pumped to your feet. Grass requires an adequate water supply to grow and like grass if the feet are not receiving enough blood, hair will not grow either. Furthermore, if the feet are not receiving enough blood, the skin will appear discolored and thin and the nails will get thick and yellow. Together, these are common indicators of circulation problems known as peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

PAD is a circulatory problem where the arteries in the extremities become narrowed which greatly reduces blood flow through them. PAD is commonly caused by atherosclerosis which is where plaques build up within your blood vessels and limits blood flow through them. If you think of the blood vessels as tubes with liquid flowing through them you can then imagine how if there was a buildup of junk within the inside of those tubes then that would result in significant impairments in blood flowing through them. PAD is very common among smokers, people who are obese, have diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or a family history of PAD are also at a greater risk of developing PAD. Besides the above mentioned changes occurring in the feet people with PAD commonly develop leg pain when walking that goes away with rest, cold extremities, and a lack of pulses in the extremities as well. People with PAD have a much higher risk of suffering from a heart attack or stroke so treatment is very important.

Lifestyle changes are the first thing that needs to be done in order to treat PAD. People who smoke need to quit and also people need to adopt a healthy diet and take up some form of exercise. Other than lifestyle changes your doctor may put you on medications to control blood pressure and cholesterol and in severe cases perform surgery to either open up the blood vessels or bypass the blockage. PAD is a very serious problem that needs to be caught early and by paying attention to changes in your feet you can catch the problem early enough to possibly treat it with just some simple lifestyle changes. If you think your feet are showing signs and symptoms of PAD or you would like more information about PAD please make an appointment with one of our podiatrists at Affiliated Foot and Ankle Care located in Edison and Monroe, NJ.

By Nrupa Shah