When you have a chronic wound, it becomes so painful that it affects your body and immune system. The pain causes you to have a sleepless night, affects your movement, and lacks appetite, hence becoming weak and tired. If the wound is not treated, it gets a bacterial infection, which can cause your tissue to die. Luckily your wound care specialist in Tamarac is committed to taking good care of your wound and giving your life back.
What causes wounds?
Chronic wounds can be due to underlying conditions in your body, which causes even a minor injury not to heal. Factors contributing to such wounds include:
- Diabetes, if you have this disease, it affects your blood vessels and nerves that supply blood in your legs. This affects your tissues’ oxygen supply and nutrients. The process increases the risk of the wound becoming chronic.
- Damaged tissues and accident injuries, which cause deep wounds, may cause the body to lack the ability to heal itself.
- If you have peripheral artery disease, your blood circulation will be inadequate because of your narrow arteries, hence your wound will heal slowly due to lack of enough oxygen and nutrients in your tissues.
- If you have disorders affecting your leg veins, it increases the likelihood of you developing wounds on your lower legs or feet.
- A weakened immune system due to chronic diseases like cancer can affect the healing process of your wound.
Diagnosis of wounds
When you go for wound treatment, your doctor will take you through your medical history and check for other underlying conditions. Your doctor will use the following criteria to assess your wound.
- Its depth and size
- The color of your wound. It can be reddish, white, black, or yellow.
- The severity of itching and pain
- Its smell
- The state of the surrounding skin and the edge of the wound
- If the wound has a fluid and if so its texture and appearance
Treatment of wound
Your doctor will recommend wound care treatment based on your wound condition.
Debridement
Your doctor will clean your wound using either electrolyte solution or saline solution. Then carefully remove dead cells or inflamed tissues using a scalpel or tweezers. Therefore, the process can be painful. Your doctor may apply either a topical or general anesthetic to the wound area to prevent pain.
Wound dressings
Your doctor will put on a new dressing using either films, hydrogels, or wet compresses. The dressing is done to prevent infection, absorb excess fluid and keep the wound moist.
Technical approaches
Your doctor may recommend some technical approaches to heal your wound like:
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
If your wound results from diabetic foot ulcers, arterial ulcers, burns, or crush injuries, your doctor will recommend hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment. Your doctor will take you to a chamber where you will breathe in oxygen under high pressure, two to three times higher than outside. The process helps increase your whole body’s oxygen levels, thus improving your natural healing processes and improving your health.
For more details on how to heal your chronic wound, call or book an appointment online with Advanced Foot, Ankle, & Wound specialist PA.