I was wondering if it takes longer to heal, when you cut yourself or got a scab?
Yes I does if you have poor control as this affects your circulation. I’ve noticed small cuts heal really quickly and bigger cuts take longer, that’s me tho ma be different for others. 
Yes it does. Diabetes is an autoimmune problem (or can be) and it does take a lot longer to heal from even the simplest of things! Take a small blister on your foot. Most non-diabetics can stick a plaster on it and it will be fine! We diabetics have to treat it as a medical emergency and keep checking it, dressing it … or it can quickly turn into something nasty!
I have ok control and still notice that stuff takes longer than I think it should to heal. I’ve had a few serious wounds that did ok but small stuff, like barking my shin on the coffee table, seems to linger…
I scratched my leg in February last year on possibly a nail. Needless to say it got infected and was painful and hot and scabby until August! Not that is what I call a slow healer!!!
StdDev was 23 in my last report on my pump, w/ A1C of 5.2? I am not thinking there’s an indicator of a huge control issue? I’m trying to argue that even with ok control, I am seeing the healing issues. Which, of course, concerns me?
It all depends on your control. I had a hip replacement surgery a few years ago and healed in the usual time.
Thank you all for your thoughts. It was very helpful.
Yup. It can take longer to heal. When I had oral surgery, my doctor put me on prophylactic antibiotics a week before surgery. We are also a bit more susceptible to infection. We do have to keep a watch on those things that open up our skin.
Actually soaking wounds is not a good idea unless a doctor specifically told you that was OK. I have had several that I was told not to get wet for several months.
Edited to add that by soaking it, you are killing off new skin that is forming so you are actually slowing down the healing process.
Generally, no, a cut or scrape on me doesn’t take longer to heal than before D, however I do have to say that I am MUCH more careful about treating most “minor” things now than I would have been before… any cut/scrape/etc is cleaned and dressed properly to keep it clean, but before D I probably wouldn’t have cared to do anything at all until it got infected. Now I do everything I can to make sure everything is clean.
I sliced the back of my shin open assembling some kitchen cabinets a couple of months ago (I stepped backwards and caught the corner of a drawer rail) and it took about 10 days to fully heal to where I no longer needed a bandaid - which is about as long as it should have. It was a pretty good gash too.
I have reasonable control A1c is always about 6% and I can’t say that healing takes longer.
hmmm, maybe it’s the amount of time? I was DX’ed in 1984 so it’s been a while. I drink a V8 and try to hit lots of veggies too but the vitamin is also a good idea. I’ve kind of gotten away from them, partially b/c my “pill drawer” is already full!!
Absolutely. A scratch or cut that used to heal in three or four days now takes about six weeks to well and truly heal.
Then again, my control hasn’t been good for some time (last three A1C’s were 10.8, 10.7, 9.1). I think good control makes all the difference.
My doctor explained this but I can’t for the life of me remember what he said. There was a lot of nodding when I said that a tiny scratch on my shoulder took weeks to heal.
I gathered that this is just part of the D-thing – but my control has been way bad, and when my control is better, wound healing gets better, too.
So maybe it’s a case of 3x healing time in diabetics with good control and 8x healing time with poor control? Something like that?
Oh, and age has an impact on this, too. Babies and children are bursting with growth hormone and for this reason heal very quickly as a rule.
As we age, we have less growth hormone on-hand to speed along the rebuilding and repairing process.
just a note on this - soaking isn’t the same as getting wet. wounds actually heal much faster in “moist” environments. many people think things need to “dry out” for them to heal - moisture promotes cell formation. I do understand the soaking thing though, and if it’s a deep wound, there’s an issue getting it wet since you’d be more prone to fungal infections.
also, I’ve had the 'betes for 12 years now. I can’t remember if I healed faster before it or not, but I do notice a difference when I have poor control vs. good control.
I would say prone to infection is more of a worry with cuts and scrapes than a lag in healing time.
If it does take longer, I haven’t noticed it. 11 days ago, I dropped a box cutter on my foot and it went in about a third of an inch. After about 10 minutes the major bleeding stopped. It is now down to a very small scab, and it only hurts if I touch it really hard. I know its gonna leave a scar, but I don’t think it is taking an excessively long time to heal.
Another time last year, I got some serious road rash on my leg from track practice (horrific, but comical pole vault accident) . That didn’t seem to take long to heal either, and that didn’t leave any kind of scar
Yeah it takes longer, but the issue with me is that it always leaves a scar even the tiniest cut