Introduction:

Diabetes is a chronic-degenerative disease that develops after pancreatic dysfunction. An estimated 422 million people in the world are currently diagnosed with diabetes. One of its most common complications is diabetic foot. It is estimated that about 15% of diabetic patients will have lower extremities ulcers.

Material and methods:

It is an observational, descriptive, prospective and cross-sectional study. It aims to know what the initial injuries that triggered an amputation in a complicated diabetic foot. Patients were presented with clinical photographs with images typical of pathologies for recognition.

Results:

A total of 50 patients were included between January 2017 and July 2019. Of these 78% (38) patients were male, 22% (11) female. 22 patients (44%) recognized as the onset of diabetic foot an ulcer, 13 with blisters (26%), 10 with hyperkeratosis (20%), 5 with hammer toes (10%).

Conclusions:

96% of patients were able to identify at least one injury as a predisposing factor for the onset of their complicated diabetic foot. The presentation of clinical photographs proved to be a patient-accepted tool. By identifying their initial injury we can determine which injury and where, where, it gave rise to the complication that led them to amputation. This information can help to perform preventive measures to limit amputations in the pelvic limbs of diabetic patients.