June is Wound Healing Awareness Month: Here’s Why Specialized Wound Care Matters

6/5/2023

BIRMINGHAM, AL — June is Wound Healing Awareness Month, a time to recognize the challenges faced by individuals with non-healing wounds and increase awareness of how specialized care can save limbs and lives.

In the United States, nearly 8 million people suffer from chronic wounds including diabetic foot ulcers, venous ulcers, and pressure injuries (bed sores). Early evaluation and treatment is very important to help avoid complications including infection, sepsis, or amputation.

The majority of wound care patients have been diagnosed with diabetes, which can greatly impair wound healing. Of the 34 million people in the U.S. who have been diagnosed, approximately 150,000 will lose a limb after a chronic wound becomes severely infected.

“In most cases, non-traumatic lower extremity amputations can be avoided,” said Dr. Blaine Bishop, Medical Director at Grandview Medical Center’s Comprehensive Wound Care Center. “With early detection, proper evaluation, and specialized treatment, most wounds can be healed in twelve weeks or less. Our primary goal is to help patients avoid the drastic measure of removing a foot or leg.

”Grandview’s Comprehensive Wound Care Center treats almost every type of chronic wounds and conditions, including radiation injuries to the tissues following cancer treatment. Treatment modalities include debridement (the removal of dead skin and tissue to stimulate healing), specialty wound dressings, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy which can speed healing by carrying extra oxygen to the blood, organs and tissues. Our physicians may also recommend compression stockings, artificial skin, or negative pressure therapy.

Here are six things you need to know about specialized wound care:

1. If you have a wound anywhere on the body that hasn’t healed within 3-4 weeks (earlier if you have diabetes) ask your doctor to refer you to a wound care specialist.
2. Inspect your feet daily and keep them clean. If you have pedicures, be sure everything used on your feet is thoroughly sanitized.
3. Be aware of diabetic neuropathy. Many diabetics don’t feel pain in the legs and feet because high glucose levels over time can damage the nerves in the lower limbs and thus need to inspect their feet every day. A chronic wound can remain undetected for several weeks, causing an infection to develop and rage out of control.
4. Elevations in blood glucose reduce the body’s ability to fight off infection and can slow the body’s healing process. Keeping glucose levels under control helps prevent hardening of the arteries, narrowing of the blood vessels, and nerve damage.
5. Learn about hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). If you’re a cancer patient suffering from the late effects of radiation treatment - even if it’s months or years later - ask your physician about HBOT. HBOT can help rejuvenate the skin and tissues by pumping oxygen-rich blood to damaged areas, encouraging healing.
6. Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and poor diet/obesity can play a role in the development of chronic wounds and can negatively impact healing

If you or someone you love is suffering from a non-healing wound, contact our team of experts at Grandview Wound Care Center. We work with referring physicians to evaluate and treat non-healing wounds as quickly as possible before they become life-threatening conditions.

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