Are injuries treated differently?

[WasntMe]

Recently I was lucky enough to collide with a pedestrian and received a bit of road rash. The emergency room cleaned it up and put a dressing on it. Two weeks later the scab detached itself and I have another scar on my elbow to tell whoppers about.

But the doctor insisted that a new dressing should be put on, even though the skin wasn’t broken any more. He specifically said ‘it’s because of your diabetes’. Does this ring true or is this chap being a bit too what can we say? Belt and braces?

 

[Grant1969]

Went through pretty much the same myself, being diabetic your more prone to infection because of a lowered immunity system or so I was led to believe, and ignored the advice and then spent eighteen months fighting a worsening infection in my leg leading to a stay in hospital.
hth.

 

[Ushthetaff]

I have experienced quite a few cut and bruises in the 40 years of type 1 diabetes. One thing i do know is if blood sugar control is poor then cuts and infections take a lot longer than someone who hasn’t got diabetes. When my Hb1ac was in the 90. + my cuts took forever , now it’s below 55 they clear up extremely quickly , but in defence of the medic it’s sort of a common theme to assume that diabetics do take longer to heal , whether that is the case for every diabetic is unknown as like we say it S an individual thing , but I suppose it does err on the side of safety .

 

[Belzedar]

Recently I was lucky enough to collide with a pedestrian and received a bit of road rash. The emergency room cleaned it up and put a dressing on it. Two weeks later the scab detached itself and I have another scar on my elbow to tell whoppers about.

But the doctor insisted that a new dressing should be put on, even though the skin wasn’t broken any more. He specifically said ‘it’s because of your diabetes’. Does this ring true or is this chap being a bit too what can we say? Belt and braces?

Nah, it's sound medical practice. Diabetes does slow down healing. Another risk is inflammation caused by an infection. Diabetes itself is problematic because of persistent inflammation. No point in adding fuel to the fire if it can be avoided.