Wound Care Q & A
What is Wound Care?
When you’re talking about feet and legs, wound care refers to non-healing wounds called ulcers that you might develop. These could include:
- Diabetic ulcerations
- Pressure ulcerations
- Venous ulcerations
- Arterial/ischemic ulcerations
Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center podiatrists have considerable expertise in diagnosing, treating, and managing non-healing wounds, as well as playing a pivotal role in helping to prevent ulcers from developing.
What Causes Non-Healing Wounds?
Non-healing wounds or ulcers develop as a result of circulatory problems in the lower limbs. It could be because you’ve been immobile and developed a pressure sore, for example. Conditions such as peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and venous insufficiency cause reduced circulation that can lead to an ulcer. Another common cause is diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
Other conditions that can cause ulcers include:
- Renal (kidney) failure
- Hypertension
- Lymphedema
- Vasculitis
- Scleroderma
- High cholesterol
- Heart disease
- History of smoking
- Infections
Ulcers typically develop if the skin breaks, either from a cut, abrasion, or where it becomes thin with age. These develop into open sores rather than healing and can continue to deteriorate into deep wounds.
Untreated or infected ulcers can lead to loss of the limb.
What’s Involved in Wound Care?
Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center uses advanced technologies to both diagnose and treat patients. Accurate diagnosis in the first instance is essential to ensure you receive the right treatment.
Treatment aims to heal the open wound as quickly as possible. Therapies suitable for all ulcers include:
- Antibiotics for infected ulcers
- Antiplatelet or anti-clotting medications
- Topical wound care
- Compression treatments
- Prosthetics or orthotics
There are several different types of dressings that might help your wound to heal, including:
- Moist to moist dressings
- Hydrogels/hydrocolloids
- Alginate dressings
- Collagen wound dressings
- Debriding agents
- Antimicrobial dressings
- Composite dressings
- Synthetic skin substitutes
Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center podiatrists work closely with vascular surgeons as well as other specialists like reconstructive microsurgeons on wound care. It’s vital to heal these painful open wounds to prevent the need for amputation.
Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center has a highly successful record of preventing amputations and healing open wounds. They take a multidisciplinary approach, providing integrated care that uses the expertise of different clinicians to provide the most effective therapies.
Time matters when it comes to healing leg ulcers, so if you have any concerns about your feet and legs, call Sacramento Foot and Ankle Center today to schedule a consultation or book an appointment online.