🚫 7 Home Remedies That Can Make Your Diabetic Foot Worse (And What To Do Instead)

Every week I see patients who come to my office or to the ER saying the same sentence:

“Doctor, it started as a tiny wound… and I used a home remedy someone recommended.”

The problem is that, in the context of diabetic foot, many of those well-intentioned recommendations end up making the wound worse, favoring infections and increasing the risk of amputation.

We know from scientific literature that:

• Between 4% and 10% of people with diabetes develop foot ulcers, and the lifetime risk of developing one can reach 25%.

• Around 85% of diabetes-related amputations are preceded by a foot ulcer.

• Approximately 56% of diabetic foot ulcers become infected, and many of those infections lead to hospitalization and surgery.

With numbers like these, you can understand why I insist so much on avoiding certain “home remedies”.
Below I’ll walk you through, step by step and in order, the main ones I see in practice and why you should NOT use them.

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1. Lemon Juice Directly on the Wound

Many people believe that lemon juice “dries” or “disinfects” the wound. Lemon is an acid (citric acid) and, although there are studies on carefully controlled acidic solutions in hospital settings, that is not the same as squeezing raw lemon over a wound at home, with no control of concentration or sterility.

Problems with lemon on a diabetic foot ulcer:

• It irritates the skin and can cause a chemical burn on already fragile tissue.

• It is not a sterile product and can introduce microorganisms.

• It increases pain and local inflammation.

• There is no solid scientific evidence supporting the use of homemade lemon juice on diabetic foot ulcers.

✅ What to do instead

• Clean the wound gently with saline solution or as recommended by your doctor.

• Cover it with appropriate, medical-grade dressings, not kitchen products.

• See your diabetic foot team if you notice redness, discharge or color changes.

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2. Honey, Brown Sugar or Table Sugar on the Wound

This is one of the classics:

“Doctor, they told me honey/sugar/panela makes it heal faster.”

It is true that medical-grade honey has been studied as a possible adjunct in some chronic wounds. However, the latest international guidelines on diabetic foot are very clear:

• The IWGDF 2023/2024 guidelines recommend NOT using honey or bee products with the intention of healing diabetic foot ulcers.

• Systematic reviews on honey in diabetic foot ulcers show some promising results, but with low-quality evidence and under very controlled conditions, not with kitchen honey.

Honey, brown sugar or regular table sugar used at home have several problems:

• They are not sterile → risk of contamination.

• In contact with exudate and moisture they can lose their osmotic effect and turn into a culture medium for bacteria.

• They are sticky and difficult to remove without causing more trauma to the wound.

✅ What to do instead

• Let your specialist choose the right type of dressing: foam, non-adherent gauze, modern dressings, etc., following diabetic foot guidelines.

• If medical-grade honey is used in your country, it should only be applied under professional supervision, never with kitchen honey on your own.

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3. Alcohol, Iodine, Hydrogen Peroxide and Other Strong Antiseptics on the Ulcer

Another very common mistake is thinking that “if it burns, it’s working”.

The indiscriminate use of alcohol, iodine, concentrated chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide or homemade mixtures can:

• Damage healthy tissue and the cells you need for healing.

• Over-dry the wound and cause further necrosis.

• Fail to improve healing rates or reduce amputations.

International IWGDF wound-healing guidelines for diabetic foot ulcers clearly state:

• Do NOT use dressings with topical antiseptics or antimicrobials for the purpose of promoting healing in diabetic foot ulcers.

Reviews on antiseptics in chronic wounds conclude that evidence is limited and that routine, uncontrolled use can be cytotoxic, harming healing tissues.

✅ What to do instead

• Use the cleaning solution prescribed by your doctor (often normal saline).

• Reserve antiseptics for specific moments and concentrations, only when your specialist indicates it.

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4. Over-the-Counter Antibiotic Creams Without a Diagnosis

Another risky practice is self-prescribing topical antibiotic creams “because they worked for someone else” or because “the pharmacy recommended it”.

The IWGDF/IDSA guidelines are very clear:

• Antibiotics (oral or IV) should be used only when there is clinical infection, not to “prevent infection” in a clean, non-infected ulcer.

Problems with using antibiotic ointments on your own:

• You may mask signs of infection and delay proper evaluation.

• You can contribute to antibiotic resistance.

• You spend money without addressing the real causes (pressure, ischemia, neuropathy, etc.).

✅ What to do instead

• If you notice redness, warmth, pain, discharge or bad odor, do NOT just add more ointment: get checked.

• Let the team decide whether you need a culture, systemic antibiotics, debridement or vascular intervention.

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5. Plants, Leaves, “Miracle Ointments” and Raw Aloe Vera

I also see patients who apply:

• Fresh aloe vera straight from the plant.

• Crushed leaves or herbal poultices.

• “Natural” ointments of unknown origin.

The main problem is not that the plant is “bad” in itself, but that:

• These are not sterile products → they can carry soil, fungi and bacteria.

• There is no dosing, no standardized concentration, and almost no safety data for their use in diabetic foot ulcers.

• They often delay proper medical care because at first “it seemed to get better”.

✅ What to do instead

• If you are interested in using something “natural”, talk to your diabetic foot team first.

• Remember: “natural” is not the same as safe, especially on a high-risk wound.

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6. Very Tight Home Bandages or Wrapping the Foot in Plastic

Another dangerous “remedy” is:

• Wrapping the foot too tightly with elastic bandages, tape or fabric.

• Covering the ulcer with plastic or improvised films to “keep air out”.

What’s the problem?

• Very tight bandages worsen circulation, and we know ischemia is a key factor in poor healing and amputation risk.

• Plastic without proper moisture balance macerates the skin, increases humidity and encourages bacterial growth.

✅ What to do instead

• Use bandages recommended by your team, with the right technique and pressure.

• Go back for review if the foot changes color, swells more, or you feel more pain or numbness.

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7. “Doing Nothing” and Leaving the Wound to Air Out With a Home Remedy

The last “home remedy” is, in reality, the absence of proper treatment:

“I put X on it and left it open to the air to see if it would heal on its own.”

Remember:

• Neuropathy makes many ulcers painless; the patient feels it’s “not serious” and delays seeking care.

• Amputation risk is often the result of a chain of delays: in consulting, in diagnosing, in referring to the right team.

Studies show that care delivered in multidisciplinary diabetic foot clinics (diabetologist, orthopedic surgeon, vascular surgeon, podiatrist, specialized nursing, etc.) significantly reduces amputations and improves survival.

✅ What to do instead

• With any wound on a diabetic foot, assume it is potentially serious.

• Seek early assessment by a team experienced in diabetic foot.

• Don’t rely solely on a neighbor’s advice, the internet or “we’ve always done it this way”.

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📣 My Message to You

I want you to keep one central idea:

Your diabetic foot is NOT a lab to experiment with home remedies.

Every ulcer that is managed early, with scientific criteria and a trained team, means one less amputation and many more years of life with quality, independence and mobility.

💬 I invite you to:

1. Leave a comment and tell me:
   Have you tried any of these remedies? What questions do you still have after reading this article?

2. Share this content with that person you know who is “treating at home” and hasn’t seen a specialist yet.

📞 And if you have a wound, blister, color change or temperature change in your foot, don’t wait:
you can book an in-person or virtual consultation with me so we can assess your case, examine your feet and design a prevention and treatment plan based on science, not myths.

Taking care of your steps is taking care of your life.

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🧑‍⚕️ About the Author

I am Dr. Adrián Lambraño Hernández, an Orthopedic Surgeon and Traumatologist specialized in the prevention and comprehensive management of diabetic foot. My purpose is to help you preserve your mobility, independence and quality of life through continuous education, early diagnosis and specialized treatments.

I trained as a physician and orthopedic specialist at the Universidad Militar Nueva Granada in Colombia, and I have worked in high-complexity institutions such as Hospital Militar Central, the National Cancer Institute, the Roosevelt Children’s Orthopedic Institute and Hospital Federico Lleras, among others.

I have over 7 years of experience as an orthopedic surgeon, have served as a university lecturer at Universidad del Tolima, and have completed international training programs in diabetic foot limb salvage in the Netherlands, Spain and Mexico.

I see patients in the Tolima region and also offer virtual consultations, under the guiding principle:

“We take care of your steps, we preserve your life.”