What is a Wound Healing Specialist?

Jane Fore, MDBy Jane Fore, MD

 

Wound healing subspecialty providers deal with challenging to-heal situations.

It is common to have an injury that leads to a break in the skin and deeper tissues. Cleaning the area with soap and water, applying a protective bandage, and providing ongoing care and protection with monitoring usually leads to healing. When the injury is shallow, and the person is healthy, there is a normal progression of healing without infection, and no professional consultation is needed.

When complications with infection, deep injury or injury that goes below the skin level, health problems that cause impaired healing, or any wound that is not progressing to healing or worsening, immediate attention is needed. DO NOT DELAY! A difficult situation can worsen quickly, leading to the loss of a leg or life.

Practitioners and physicians all deal with complex injuries. Wound healing specialists are consulted when a situation requires specialty attention.

Conditions leading to difficult healing include diabetes, heart disease, problems with varicose veins, poor blood supply to the arms or legs with the injury, kidney disease, a poor immune system, chronic swelling of the arm or leg where the injury has occurred, being on chemotherapy, unintentional weight loss or a deficient diet in calories or healthy foods.   A skin rash may turn into a wound if the infection takes hold. A bug bite can lead to tissue death and cause a deep injury.

It takes about ten times the amount of oxygen and body reserves to heal an area than maintaining the skin. An injury will unmask a person’s impaired ability to heal.

Common problems I see include:

  • Ulcers on the feet of people with diabetes. Many with diabetes lack good feeling in their feet and develop deep injury without the warning of pain.
  • Ulcers on the legs and feet of people with varicose veins.
  • Injuries initially cared for but got an infection leading to a larger wound than the original problem.
  • Surgical incisions that are not healing or have wounds that cannot be closed.

We offer therapy that is unique to our area of practice. These services are outside the usual standard of practice covered in standard medical training.

I asked a patient why it took so many months to get a referral to see me. He said his doctor told him that he had done everything and what good would it do to see someone else.  Wound healing specialists have unique tools and perspectives that offer additional options.