Welcome

Why was Solesee developed?

Quite simply we developed Solesee to help reduce the number of avoidable foot problems associated with diabetes and other illnesses that can adversely affect your feet.

Sadly, in many cases, people who have diabetes don’t realise that foot health issues are a key concern of their condition. Essentially, if you have diabetes, you should be checking your feet every day.

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At Solesee we recognised a few years ago that people with diabetes were not aware that they should be checking their feet or were not checking them often enough to be able to help prevent problems occurring in the first place. A small cut or a blister has the potential to quickly ulcerate and then become infected if not seen and dealt with straight away.  

This situation was echoed by podiatrists and specialist shoe fitters that we spoke to. 

We quickly realised that there is an overall lack of awareness from people with diabetes that they should be checking their feet every day for any changes - be that a cut or blister, build of dry skin or changes to the general condition of their feet (click here for more information). 

Recent statistic from Diabetes UK, indicates that there are now 169 lower limb amputations a week due to diabetes related complications, in England alone, (of which 80% are avoidable). 

When we first launched Solesee 5 years ago this figure was 140 - the number of people with diabetes has increased over this time but this increased number also indicates awareness around this issue still needs to dramatically improve. 

Foot ulcers and amputations are a huge cost for the NHS, with about £1 in every £140 of NHS spending going towards foot care for people with diabetes.

It is therefore even more important for people with diabetes to not only be aware of the potential danger to their feet but also to start taking responsibility for their foot-health.

Getting help early enough if a problem occurs not only saves money, it can save limbs and lives, as mentioned earlier 80% of all amputations can be avoided.

Carrying out a simple foot inspection task at home, on a daily basis, is the most cost effective way to achieve this.

But we know from research that this is not easy to do. Looking at the whole of the bottom of your foot is tricky, even for the most able bodied and fit amongst us! So at Solesee our aim is to educate and help people to perform this task easily and simply at home, as spotting a potential foot problem is vital in the fight against foot ulcers and amputations – and could be the difference between life and death.

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Solesee - developed with patients and professionals in mind.

Trials of the Solesee Foot Inspection Mirror were carried out with both podiatrists and people with diabetes who had existing foot problems relating to their illness.  Results from these trials were fed into the design and development of the Solesee mirror now in production.

The potential benefits of the Solesee Foot Inspection Mirror were obvious, even in the early development stages as Jim Tunley, who has Type II diabetes and was involved in the trial for the original design prototype, explains:

“Some months ago I cut the bottom of the big toe on my right foot. The cut was quite small but the lack of circulation due to my diabetes nearly caused me to lose my right leg from just below the knee. When I first saw Solesee I realised straight away that it would have been ideal to enable me to examine my toe very easily. Examining the end of my big toe is a problem. If I had had access to Solesee when I first cut my toe I could have saved myself months of misery and worrying.”