Foot Infections eMedicine Orthopedics

Description: Foot infections can be difficult problems for physicians to treat due to the biomechanical complexities of the extremity and the underlying circumstances that cause the infections. Typically, they follow a traumatic event or tissue loss with contamination by foreign materials and/or colonization by bacteria. When a healthy patient or one without metabolic or peripheral vascular disease (PVD) presents with pedal infections, a traumatic process usually is involved. However, the more common presentation is that of a patient whose health is compromised with a metabolic or peripheral vascular defect that complicates optimum successful treatment.
Synonyms and related keywords: soft tissue infections of the foot, cellulitis, paronychia, puncture wounds, fungal pedal infections, viral pedal infections, bacterial pedal infections, diabetic foot infections, diabetic foot ulcers, peripheral vascular disease, PVD, burn wounds, degloving injuries, crush injuries, gun shot wounds, lawn mower injuries, necrotizing fasciitis, gas gangrene, clostridial myonecrosis, bone infections in the foot, acute osteomyelitis, chronic osteomyelitis
Stephen M Schroeder, DPM & Peter Blume, DPM 2005