A friends dad has gangrene in his toes. he's 78 & borderline diabetic. dr said he'd amputate but that was months ago. im wondering how fast it spreads?

It depends.: Dry gangrene may develop fast or rapidly depending on the severity of the vascular disease. A wet gangrene may spread rapidly as the a bacterial infection can spread in hours to days depending on the type and bacteria.

Who know?: Gangrene without infection usually results from poor circulation which progresses slowly and patient may just feel some ache but may not be really sick. With added infection, more pain and systemic sx, such as fever, tiredness... May develop. So, closely watch under professional supervision and accept rx, medically or surgically, timely. Best luck and wish ... Always.

Dry gangrene?: Hi. If your friend's Dad has dry gangrene, this is not due to infection (like gas or wet gangrene). Dry gangrene is simply due to no blood supply, and is not uncommon enough in diabetes. If it's dry gangrene, often the toes will autoamputate, which is safer than taking these vasculopathic patients to surgery. And if I had to guess, I'd say there's nothing "borderline" about his diabetes!