Causes Of Chronic Wounds

Chronic or non-healing wounds can be extremely painful for the patients. Simply, a chronic wound is an open, deep wound that doesn’t heal properly within months and can cause serious complications such as infection or amputation, etc. thereby these wounds require advanced medical care & attention by wound care experts. 

Any acute wound can become a chronic wound if they don’t heal or become infected. So, all chronic wounds begin as an acute wound but when the wound doesn’t show any signs of recovery through a predictable rate of healing, it becomes a chronic wound. Generally, chronic wounds take more than four months to heal after initially being treated but if the healing process gets more delayed by four weeks, it is a case of a serious chronic wound. 

In this article, we will know what causes a chronic wound and what to do when any complications arise:

What Causes Chronic Wounds? (Etiology of Chronic Wounds)

Chronic wounds can occur due to several reasons. The most common reasons behind the development of chronic wounds include bacterial invasion, lack of blood supply, infection, or inappropriate treatment. 

Other causes of chronic wounds are here as follows:

• Surgical wounds that reopened during surgery.
• Pressure ulcers are when the skin breaks down due to the constant pressure on a specific part of the body, especially on the bony areas.
• Poor blood supply due to arterial or venous insufficiency when an injury occurs on the legs requires venous leg ulcer treatment.
• Loss of circulation or sensitivity in diabetic patients due to diabetic ulcer. 
• Bacterial infections
• Lack of nutrient-rich diet.
• Any underlying chronic diseases 
• Chemotherapy or radiation 
• Smoking habits
• Heavyweight etc.

What Are The Risk Factors For Chronic Wounds?

As mentioned above, if any person experiences an acute wound, he/she has a possibility of developing a chronic wound. However, there are certain conditions a person has, that could lead to the formation of non-healing wounds. Here they are as follows:

• Diabetes
• Severe burns 
• Suffering from cancer
• Chronic medical conditions
• Vascular disease
• Hypertension
• Heart or lung disease
• Anemia
• Old age or immobility issues
• Previous history of ulcer
• Multiple surgeries 
• Weakened immune system etc.

If a person is experiencing any of these conditions, he/she should immediately book an appointment with bedside wound care so that preventive measures can be taken to reduce the chances of developing a chronic wound.

How Does An Acute Wound Convert Into A Chronic Wound?

To understand how an acute wound becomes chronic, it is important to be aware of the normal wound healing process. When an injury occurs on any part of our body, it goes through a four-stage healing process starting with hemostasis - the initial wound healing phase where the process of blood clotting takes place to stop the bleeding. It is the first step of our body’s natural defense system to get control of the bleeding. Although there are a few conditions that might affect this phase such as diabetes, it is advised to discuss with your doctor diabetic ulcer treatment if you have diabetes or other chronic conditions. 

The next stage is inflammation where a type of white blood cell ie. neutrophils enters the wound site to protect the wound from bacteria and remove debris. This is the wound stage that makes a difference between an acute & chronic wound. Acute wounds progress through hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling without any disruption but in the case of chronic wounds, the inflammation stage is disrupted and affects our body’s natural defense system. 

How To Heal Chronic Wounds?

• Under the supervision & expertise of bedside specialist care, the patients should:
• Wash hands
• Keep dressing clean
• Take a nutrient-rich diet
• Quit smoking
• Lose weight etc.