What does numbness and tingling feel like with peripheral neuropathy?

Peripheral neuropathy can make the skin feel numb, prickly, burning, electric, or unusually sensitive to light touch. Some people describe walking on cushions, wearing tight socks, or having a glove-like loss of feeling. Symptoms often begin in the toes or soles and can move upward; the hands may be affected in a similar pattern. Balance may become less steady when reduced sensation makes it harder to feel the ground. Causes include diabetes, certain medicines, alcohol-related nerve injury, nutritional problems, and other disorders, so the sensation alone cannot establish a diagnosis.

Check your feet and hands each day for blisters, cuts, burns, colour changes, or pressure marks, because reduced feeling can hide an injury. Use well-fitting footwear, test bath water carefully, and avoid heating pads directly on numb skin. Book a clinician visit if symptoms persist, spread, disturb sleep, or affect balance. Assessment may include a neurological examination and blood tests, followed by treatment of the underlying cause and symptom relief.

Get urgent help for rapidly developing weakness, inability to walk, loss of bladder or bowel control, severe back pain with leg symptoms, or numbness affecting one side with speech or facial changes. Seek prompt care for a foot wound, spreading redness, fever, or a burn that you cannot feel properly. New symptoms after an injury or medicine change also deserve timely review.

Which nerves seem affected? Could diabetes, nutrition, medicines, or another condition be involved? How should I protect numb skin? What tests and treatments are appropriate?