A non-healing wound can be a constant source of annoyance, frustration, and pain. How fast your wound heals is a function of your overall health and how the wound has been treated. Chronic wounds usually don’t heal because something is interfering with your body’s ability to heal itself. Some of the factors that affect wound healing are:
- Age: Wounds on elderly individuals tend to heal at a slower rate as compared to a child.
- Problems with Blood Circulation: This interferes with wound healing because of improper blood supply.
- Lower Extremity Edema: Increased swelling of the legs can prevent healing of wounds in the feet.
- Nutrition: An inadequate diet is an important reason why wounds may not heal properly.
- Excess Pressure: Sitting on a wound with improper support surface or lying on a bed that does not protect the skin can lead to pressure sores that are very difficult to heal.
- Underlying Disease: Poorly controlled diabetes, kidney failure, other chronic illnesses and regular medications may interfere with the body’s ability to heal itself.
- Smoking: It reduces oxygen in the blood and causes the small vessels in the hands and feet to clamp down. Smoking cessation is very important to facilitate wound healing.
Wounds stuck in a non-healing state can be treated with debridement and applications of various specialized dressings such as collagen dressings, antimicrobial dressings, absorptive dressings, dressings that debride or hydrate tissue. They help restore a woundhealing environment to a chronic non-healing wound that is not progressing through the normal stages of healing.
Other advanced wound care products and treatments offered at NewportCare include stem cell therapy, extracellular matrix products, embryonic tissue, infection control, and diabetes education. If you have a chronic wound that does not appear to be healing even after weeks or months of care, visit the wound specialists at NewportCare Medical Group for an evaluation and treatment recommendation.
NewportCare Medical Group is a comprehensive specialty group located in Newport Beach, California specializing in advanced non-surgical and surgical treatments for a wide range of orthopedic conditions.
