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Pedicures for Diabetics

Diabetic? I bet you avoid sugar…. If you get sugar scrubs in the salon, you should read further.

I went to the optometrist the other day. My goodness what an insightful visit. I was there to get some new reading glasses, but I got so much more.

I guess it was because I went on a really quiet day and the gentleman had a lot of time on his hands, or maybe he was a locum and only wanted to see 3 clients for the day and chose to spend 2 hours with each person.

Either way, he did a VERY VERY thorough test, which also included taking photographs of my eyeballs.

Yup, I am sure most people are familiar with this, but it was news for me.
He then placed the image on a big screen and started reading the tea leaves….
To read more on what the Iris tells us you can read what Dr Roy Sr, MD Associate Clinical Professor from the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Arkansas had to say. click here.

I am a pale South African, but after this session, I now know that my forefathers were heavy pigmented. Good thing living in Africa to know I’m part of a rainbow nation. It kind of made me feel more at home and local I suppose.

The second thing he shared was that I had 0, NO, nada Diabetic genes in my body. I had no family with Diabetic history, I will never get it and there is no trace of it in my genealogy. Wow that was good news, but knowing me, I started walking around, now constantly thinking about this Diabetic thing. I found a fascinating article on research that was done by a Dr in the USA. Read more here.

To be honest, my knowledge of Diabetics goes as far as my friend who has to wake up every 3 hours to measure her son’s blood sugar. I know there are different types and I know that sugar is bad if you have it.

If this is your thing and you want to read more, feel free to follow the research here. It gives a great understanding.

To get back to my session at the optometrist… it then hit me... and this is something completely different, but this is where my thoughts went… If I put cream on my legs and it gets absorbed by my skin, the active ingredients go through the skin, right? Some more than others. Just think of Muscle relaxers, you rub them on the skin, and they get absorbed and have a direct effect on your muscle.

So here is the part that bothered me. Why are we using sugar scrubs on Diabetics when doing pedicures?

Surely, we ask the question… Does it actually get absorbed? I followed a research project and found this interesting article.

Are you a Diabetic? I think if you are, you should be asking these questions and maybe demanding a non-sugar scrub when going for your next Mani or Pedi.


Upon reading more on this subject, I learned that Sugar does not naturally get absorbed when placed on the skin, but with abrasion in scrubbing, it enters the skin.

I also learned that it is more or less the same thing that happens on the skin when we bath in epsom salts…. the same level of absorption appears, or i suppose those nicotine patches smokers wear.

See a discussion on someone who is T1 diabetic and cooked plums when testing his sugar.

So this is my advice to you: Next time you go for a Pedi, ask for the MediHeel Pedicure. It is free of all sugars and is completely safe and tested for Diabetics.


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