The Basics of Wound Examination

Previous articles in this series have considered the importance of a full patient examination and systems review as part of a wound assessment. While these elements are essential and provide a great deal of vital information, nothing can substitute for a thorough and detailed assessment of the wound itself. A careful wound examination is important…

Wound Dressings & Wound Healing – Changing Philosophy

Early pre-clinical and clinical research in the 1960s started to define the idea of moist wound healing and the benefit in optimizing wound healing.  The concept that a wound that is kept optimally moist will have better outcomes than one that is allowed to dry out. Moist Wound Care Dressings The concept of moist wound…

Causes and Treatment of Venous Stasis Ulcers

Lower extremity venous stasis ulcers represent approximately 80% of the leg ulcers typically seen in wound care facilities. The following statistics help to bring home the seriousness and chronicity of this common health problem: Healing time for venous stasis ulcers averages 24 weeks Approximately 15% of these ulcers will never heal In 15 to 71%…

Wound Characteristics that Affect Wound Healing

As well as systemic and local factors, a number of the wound’s own inherent characteristics affect the rate of wound closure and wound healing. It is important to understand these factors so that they can be managed optimally as part of an overall strategy to help achieve wound closure. There are eight wound characteristics that…

|

The Resurgence of Honey in Wound Management

Although honey has been used in wound management for centuries, and is mentioned in the Koran as a medicine for all disease, its popularity declined with the increasing availability of modern antibiotics, antiseptics and improved surgical techniques. However,  with the continuing battle against wound infection and interest in the antimicrobial properties – honey in wound…

Wound Inflammation: Where Would We Be Without It?

During our training, we are all taught about the three phases of normal wound healing; wound inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. This is a relatively well-understood area of wound management and one that is predictable and consistent. Sadly, in wound management as in life, nothing is ever quite that simple. A number of wounds appear to…

Wound Infection & Wound Healing Complications

We all know it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Unfortunately, this principle extends beyond chocolate and red wine into certain aspects of wound healing. Although we are taught that inflammation is an essential phase of the wound healing process, an excessive inflammatory response can actually slow wound healing, leaving patients…