Due to a depressed immune system and fatty deposits in the veins and arteries, diabetics also have decreased wound healing. Now if you add in the loss of sensation, what you can have is someone walking around for days with a huge cut on the bottom of their foot that they don't even remember getting. Not only that, but it's had days for infection to build up which is going to be harder to treat with an immune system that doesn't want to play ball. This infection can become so bad it reaches the bone, amputation is likely after that.
Unless you've got somewhere special to be, always wear white socks. It will be plainly obvious you've hurt your feet in those. The biggest prevention is following a diet which keeps your glucose within normal limits without having to worry about insulin. That means living a life with limited carbohydrate. Either way, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions to see if it's time to schedule an appointment with a podiatrist, or foot doctor.
Do you have foot or leg pain which keeps you up at night?
Problems with urination?
Tingling in fingers or toes?
Numbness in any extremity?
Burning, especially in the evening?
Erectile Dysfunction for men or Vaginal dryness for women?
Slowed Healing, or cuts and bruises that hang about forever?
If you answered yes to most of those it's time to schedule an appointment. In the meantime examine your legs and feet daily, easiest way is in the shower, apply lotion to dry or cracked feet and wear proper fitting shoes at all times to prevent foot injury. It's important you take care of your feet, last I checked we've yet to figure out a way to grow those back.
Good foot care: One of Lt. Dan's only two rules
If you would like to dive a little deeper into this topic, this is a great WebMD article describing it a bit more. Nothing beats a good old fashioned doctor if your having problems though.
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