Chronic Wound Causes And Treatment in Greenville & Dallas, TX

Chronic Wound Treatment in Greenville & Dallas, TX

Chronic Wound Treatment in Greenville & Dallas, TX

Chronic wound usually occurs due to poor blood circulation, diabetes, or weak immune systems. Chronic wounds are slow to heal. They usually require specialized treatment and care.

A chronic wound is a wound that hasn’t healed for more than eight weeks. Chronic wounds don’t progress through the normal healing process. About 6.5 million patients in the United States have chronic wounds. Apart from the United States, a lot of people across the world have chronic wounds.

The chronic type of wounds can be infected by bacteria such as staphylococcus and pseudomonas. When a chronic wound gets infected, it can lead to severe complications. Chronic wounds can negatively impact your quality of life. If untreated, chronic wounds can lead to amputation of the affected limb or even death.

Ulcers such as diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers, and venous ulcers are the most common chronic. Other chronic wounds include wounds related to metabolic disease, non-healing surgical wounds, severe burns, and wounds that repeatedly break down.

Causes of Chronic Wounds

There are many different causes of chronic wounds. These include:

1. Nutritional deficiency

A lack of adequate nutrients and vitamins in your body can lead to chronic wounds. Nutrients and vitamins are essential for the routine healing of tissues in the body. Vitamin A, B-vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, and calcium are some vitamins and nutrients your body needs. If these nutrients and vitamins are lacking in your body, it could lead to chronic wound when you get injured or suffers a medical condition.

2. Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease that can affect blood circulation and damage the nerves that carry pain signals. When these nerves are damaged, your body won’t recognize that a wound has occurred. Since your body doesn’t remember an injury, the healing process won’t happen.

3. Infections

Bacteria infection and other kinds of infection can delay the healing process of a wound, leading to a chronic wound.

4. Poor circulation of red blood cells

The red blood cells are in charge of replacing dead cells with new cells. When you have a wound, the dead cells are placed with new cells by the red blood cells, which cause the wound to heal.

Poor circulation of red blood cells makes the red blood cells move very slowly, thereby delaying or slowing down the healing process of the wound.

5. Certain types of medications

Certain medications could slow or hinder the healing process of a wound. Having chemotherapy and radiation therapy could negatively impact your immune system and hinder the healing process of your wound. Certain types of anti-inflammatory drugs could slow or hinder the inflammatory stage needed by your body to heal. Intake of certain antibiotics could kill good bacteria in your body, thereby affecting wound healing.

6. Excessive alcohol intake

When you drink alcohol excessively, the amount of important white blood cells that fight against bacteria in your body is significantly reduced. The healing process of a wound will be reduced, and your risk of getting infected will increase.

7. Cigarette smoking

Cigarettes contain nicotine. Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor that deflates blood flow to the skin. This can hinder the healing process of injured tissues and also lead to tissue ischemia

8. Bed sores

Pressure will be exerted on a particular part of your body when you lie in a particular position for a prolonged period. The pressure can cause bed sores and reduce the wound’s healing process. People suffering from stroke or in a coma are more prone to this.

9. Peripheral artery disease

Narrowing the arteries that transmit blood flow to the limbs reduces blood flow to your leg. This causes a lack of white blood cells and red blood cells that helps in the healing of wounds.

Symptoms of Chronic Wounds

Symptoms of chronic wound

Symptoms of chronic wound include:

• Increased pain
• Wound that is not healing or doesn’t progress through the normal healing process.
• Redness around the wound
• Swelling around the wound
• Warmth around the wound
• Pus and fluids exude from the wound.
• Bad smell or odor from the wound
• Dead tissues covering the surface of the wound

Treatment and Management of Chronic Wound in Greenville & Dallas, TX

If a chronic wound is caused by an underlying condition, treating the underlying condition can help facilitate the healing of the wound.

Treatment and management of chronic wounds in Greenville & Dallas, TX follow particular steps.

Step 1: Cleaning the wound

A chronic wound should first be properly cleaned with saline water before any medication is applied to the wound. Dirt, pus, and exudates should be cleaned off the wound.

Step 2: Debridement

Before any medication is applied to the wound, the top dead tissues on the wound’s surface should be removed. Depending on your condition, debridement can be done in various ways. Most medical professionals prefer to perform debridement using mechanical or sharp (conservative or surgical) methods.

After debridement, running water is used to clean the wound’s surface. An enzyme-based gel may also be applied.

Step 3: Apply medications to the wound

After debridement, antibiotic ointment and certain medications may be applied to the wound to aid healing and prevent infection.

Step 4: Dressing the wound

Wound dressings cover up a wound from infection and extract excess fluid from the wound to facilitate healing. After necessary medications and antibiotic ointment have been applied to the wound, the wound will be properly dressed. A dressing may be changed when it is soaked with fluids or if the fluids are leaking out.

Other Treatments

Other treatment options for chronic wounds include:

1. Compression stockings or bandages

Compression stockings or bandages help improve circulation and heal the wound faster. They exert pressure on your leg to help the veins transfer blood back to your heart.

2. Antibiotics

You may be given oral antibiotics to prevent the wound from getting infected. Antibiotics also help the wound heal faster.

3. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves placing you in an oxygen chamber to breathe in 100% pure oxygen. This therapy grows the amount of oxygen in your blood to help tissues heal faster. By saturating your blood with oxygen, your wound heals much faster.

4. Negative pressure wound therapy