Vascular disease of the veins and arteries causes limited blood flow and slows your body’s healing process. As a result, approximately five million Americans with vascular disease develop chronic ulcers and wounds.
Although vascular disease isn’t always the cause of the wounds and ulcers, poor circulation due to the diseased veins and arteries prevents these sores from healing.
People with diabetes are particularly susceptible to chronic wounds. Each year about 125,000 people in the U.S. undergo lower extremity amputations as a result of complications of chronic wounds; more than 50 percent of those are people with diabetes.
Chronic ulcers can become seriously infected, gangrenous and in some cases require amputation. They occur most often on the legs and feet, and the swelling of the lower limbs that often accompanies vascular disease can further reduce circulation and add to the problem.
The Three Most Common Chronic Non-Healing Wounds:
- Pressure Ulcers
- Diabetic Foot Ulcers
- Venous Leg Wounds
Your treatment plan may include some or a combination of the following:
- Laboratory Studies
- X-Ray
- Vascular Studies
- Surgical debridement to remove infected tissue and bone.
- Antibiotic therapy
- Bio-engineered skin
- Negative pressure assisted wound closure
- Application of specialty dressings or ointments
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Contact the Wound Healing Center
Call the Wound Healing Center to schedule your appointment (210) 297-7520. The center is conveniently located on the 2nd floor of the Baptist Medical Center on Dallas Street. Please contact our office for easy directions.
We will talk with your doctor, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.