INNOVATIVE HYDROGEL-BASED STRATEGIES FOR DIABETIC FOOT ULCER MANAGEMENT

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are complex wounds caused by diabetic complications like neuropathy, ischemia, oxidative stress, and infection. Conventional treatments are ineffective due to tissue penetration issues, biofilm resistance, and minimal healing capacity. Hydrogels are becoming useful supportive wound dressings in DFU therapy as they can maintain moisture and are biocompatible. But traditional hydrogels such as Intrasite™, Silvercel™, and Aquacel® Ag+ provide mostly passive benefits and do not have structural integrity, durability, or active drug delivery. Therefore, self-healing hydrogels are a new generation of intelligent biomaterials. They will recover their structure with dynamic chemical bonds and respond to changes in the environment through the release of therapeutic agents. These hydrogels may be filled with natural, synthetic and biological materials in order to minimize infection, modulate inflammation, and stimulate angiogenesis. Preclinical data demonstrate that self-healing hydrogels enhance tissue healing and infection control. Their clinical application remains restricted because of scalability and regulatory issues. looking ahead, the integration of bioactive hydrogels with AI-based smart monitoring systems has tremendous potential to enable personalized, adaptive DFU treatment, promising next-generation wound therapy.

Keywords: Diabetic foot ulcers, Ischemia Self-healing hydrogels, Angiogenesis, Bioactive agents, Biocompatible.