A slow-healing wound causes a lot of pain that can disrupt you from carrying out your activities normally. Similarly, chronic wounds cause severe complications including amputation and infections. However, wound care in Fort Worth is performed by specialists who take proactive steps to promote wound healing and prevent the development of any complications. The experts offer comprehensive care that involves advanced dressings, nutrition, and specialized treatment like hyperbaric oxygen therapy to accelerate the wound healing process.
When do you need wound care?
In most cases, severe wounds and wounds that develop an infection often require professional wound care. Similarly, wounds that do not heal also require skilled treatment. Generally, if you have a non-healing wound or a chronic wound that has not started healing in two weeks, it might fail to heal even after six weeks. However, when an ulcer develops on your lower foot or leg, you do not have to wait for it to heal because ulcers do not heal on their own and can get worse, causing severe complications.
What are the types of wounds that require professional care?
Wounds that need professional care include venous leg ulcers, pressure sores, diabetic wounds, foot ulcers, infected wounds, surgical wound complications, and arterial ulcers. Non-healing wounds mostly take months for them to heal. Therefore, the longer the wound takes to heal, the more you are at risk of developing an infection that can invade the surrounding bones and skin. In very severe cases, chronic wounds often lead to the amputation of the infected parts.
What symptoms indicate that one needs wound care?
The following symptoms indicate poor wound healing or that you have an infected wound: foul odor, swelling, redness, fever, pain that gets worse, drainage from the wound, red blotches or streak spreading from the wound, and thick, discolored discharge from the wound.
What happens during wound care?
For chronic wounds, intensive treatment is a need and involves a thorough assessment. The care providers review your medical and lifestyle history and carefully carry out a physical examination to help evaluate the wound’s size and depth. Diagnostic tests are commonly performed to identify the underlying cause of your wound and look for potential complications, including bone infections. Additional tests, including vascular studies, blood tests, transcutaneous oxygen testing, and diagnostic imaging tests like x-rays, CT scan, or MRI, can also be recommended.
What treatment option can you receive for wound care?
Specialists mostly use advanced therapies to stabilize your wound and promote the wound healing process. They also offer a wide range of essential wound care therapies, and specialized dressings are also used. Some of the wound care therapies offered include wound debridement, pressure off-loading, infection management, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, compression therapy, peri-wound skin management, bioengineered skin grafts, and negative pressure wound therapy. The team also provides holistic wound care and recommends lifestyle and dietary changes to also promote the healing process. Nutritional counseling, which is a vital aspect of wound care, is also recommended because your body requires more nutrients to support wound healing. You are also taught how to change your dressing and care for your wound when at home to maintain a good healing environment preventing the introduction of infective organisms in your wound.
Suppose you need wound care, call or visit Wound Evaluation Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine today for more information.