Effect of Topical Insulin on Diabetic Wound Healing among Patients with Diabetic Foot Ulcer

Diabetic foot ulcer is a debilitative disease with severe consequences in diabetic patients. Woundhealing is a complex biological process that restores skin integrity. Conventional dressings werefound ineffective for these ulcers. Insulin accelerates wound healing in diabetes by enhancinggrowth of different cell types and affects proliferation by keratinocytes, endothelial cells, andfibroblasts. Aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of topical insulin on diabetic wound healingamong patients with diabetic foot ulcer. Research design: A quasi experimental research designwas utilized. Settings: The study was conducted at inpatient vascular surgery department atAlexandria Main University Hospital. Tools of data collection: One tool was used for datacollection. It consisted of two parts. Part I: Socio demographic and clinical data and Part II: BatesJensen wound assessment tool. Results: The result of the study revealed that there was statisticalsignificant improvement in all items of foot ulcer assessment in the study group over control aftertwo and three weeks of daily topical insulin dressing. There was statistical significant improvementin diabetic foot ulcer severity among the study and control groups after one week, after two andthree weeks daily topical insulin dressing. The findings of the present study also showed thatdiabetic foot ulcer in the study group need less time than the control group for complete healing.Conclusion: This study concluded that patients with diabetic foot ulcer who receive topical insulindressing exhibit enhanced healing rate than patients who do not receive such intervention.Recommendations: Incorporate the technique of topical insulin dressing in clinical nursingcurricula, evaluate this method on other type of wound than diabetic foot ulcer and in servicetraining programs for nurses about topical insulin wound dressing.