Diabetic foot is a combination of vascular and neurological lesions caused by diabetes mellitus, and is also closely related to trauma and infection. In clinical practice, there are different types of diabetic foot, such as ischemic diabetic foot, infected diabetic foot and mixed diabetic foot, with different treatment methods. Compared with non-diabetic patients, diabetic patients have early onset, rapid progression and high incidence of vascular lesions. Ischemic diabetic foot mainly involves lower limb arteries, causing lumen narrowing and occlusion, resulting in distal limb ischemia, so that the tissues cannot get enough oxygen and nutrients, and also cannot make the therapeutic drugs reach the lesion effectively, which eventually leads to foot ulceration and gangrene, and can lead to amputation in serious cases. Improving blood supply to the foot is the main treatment principle for ischemic diabetic foot. Diabetic neuropathy can involve sensory nerves, motor nerves and autonomic nerves. Sensory neuropathy can cause patients to lose or weaken their sense of protection against temperature, pain, pressure, etc., and foot ulcers can occur under the action of external factors such as burns, foreign bodies and trauma. Motor neuropathy can make the patient’s foot muscles atrophy, thereby destroying the normal structure of the foot and making it easy to form abnormal stress points when the foot is stressed, which eventually leads to the formation of ulcers. Autonomic neuropathy, which causes abnormal sweating and temperature regulation of the foot skin, results in dry, fissured skin, which becomes an entry point for microbial infection, and thus the diabetic foot occurs. Incision and drainage, dilation, and control of secondary infection are the main principles of treatment for infected diabetic foot. Patients with mixed diabetic foot have more serious infections and ischemia at the same time, and the condition often develops rapidly and can soon threaten the survival of the limb, which needs to be treated as soon as possible. Old age, obesity, lack of patient knowledge, alcohol consumption, smoking, and hypertension are all risk factors for diabetic peripheral vascular disease and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Diabetic patients should pay attention to the causes of diabetic foot, protect their feet, and control their blood sugar to avoid developing diabetic foot, which can bring danger to the limbs and even life.