NEED TO KNOW
- Olubiyi Jibowu, 57, gave himself a pedicure at home — but due to his undiagnosed type 2 diabetes, he had numbness in his feet that kept him from realizing the water he’d used was too hot
- After he developed blisters, Jibowu used a household disinfectant on the wounds, which caused a severe infection that spiraled into sepsis
- He needed his leg amputated, but says “If I knew I was diabetic, it would have alleviated everything”
A man who gave himself a DIY pedicure at home struggled with an infection so severe he needed his leg amputated.
Londoner Olubiyi Jibowu wanted smoother feet for the summer, so in July 2023 he decided to give himself a pedicure at home, starting with a foot soak in hot water with Himalayan salt, according to Daily Mail. However, Jibowu, 57, had undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. The disorder can cause neuropathy, which the Mayo Clinic explains is nerve damage in the hands and feet that can cause numbness and loss of feeling.
As a result, Jibowu didn’t realize that the bath he’d run was too hot — until he submerged his feet and saw blisters immediately form. “I initially thought, ‘These are just blisters, they’ve peeled and they’re a bit sore.’ I didn’t want them to get infected, so I thought Dettol would make it better. That’s what my mum used to do.”
Dettol is a brand of disinfectant and cleanser in the UK. Jibowu said his mother would “put a drop here and there, but I kept pouring it on. It was pain I can’t even describe. I’m a big guy, but it was just too much.”
He ended up burning away layers of his skin, which he said “eventually shriveled up and was just torn apart. It went all black. I could see the fragments of my bone structure on my feet.”
He tried to ignore the pain, still going to his job as in addiction support worker, but said as soon as he showed his manager his wound, “she sent me home immediately.”
Finally, in “severe pain,” he went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. “I knew it was serious. It was rapidly deteriorating,” he said, adding that they wrapped his feet and “pumped me full of antibiotics, but there was no healing.”
He infection had spiraled into sepsis, which is a life-threatening condition when the body responds improperly to an infection. In Jibowu’s case, his condition had deteriorated to the point where an amputation was his only option.
“I was in a state of shock; my mind was all over the place” he said. “I didn’t want the consultant who talked about that anywhere near me. I really believed there could be a better solution, not amputation straight away.”
But that August, just one month after the DIY pedicure, he underwent the surgery to remove his leg; “The moment the amputation happened, it relieved the pain I was feeling, but I was struggling with acceptance,” Jibowu said. “I thought, ‘Am I going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life?’ It was a really hard pill to swallow. I couldn’t even cry. It was just life-changing. The prosthetic was a light at the end of the tunnel.”
However, the prosthetic was heavy and uncomfortable, so he’s raising money for a new titanium leg via a GoFundMe, explaining, “with the right prosthetic, I believe I can walk more comfortably, return fully to work, and live life without constant pain and fatigue.”
He says he’s trying to remain “rational and positive,” even though he says, “If I had had a little bit of insight, if I knew I was diabetic, it would have alleviated everything I went through.”
Jibowu hopes people who hear his story seek medical care if they’re in a similar situation and don’t try to treat it at home. “The doctors have specific antibiotics that will get rid of the infection,” he said. “It’s much better to let a specialist handle it.”
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