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Managing Diabetic Wounds



What Are Diabetic Wounds?

Diabetes affects the way the body processes glucose. Abnormally high blood glucose levels are associated with serious complications, including diabetic wounds. Diabetic wounds can be caused by:

  • Nerve damage (neuropathy)

  • Weakened immune system

  • Narrow arteries

The World Journal of Diabetes published a study that found 15% of diabetics develop diabetic foot ulcers during their lifetime. If left untreated, these sores can result in severe infection, gangrene, amputation, and even death. Proper prevention and treatment are the most effective means of addressing this serious health issue.


Diabetic Wound Symptoms

When nerves are injured, patients begin to lose feeling in their feet, a condition known as neuropathy. When this happens, patients may not be able to feel foot injury symptoms form. Often, calluses become ulcers in people with diabetes. In addition to diabetes-related complications, poor circulation can greatly inhibit the healing process of your feet.


Wound Complications

Wounds that become serious may cause so much damage to tissue and bone that amputation is necessary. It is important to care for a wound immediately before amputation becomes the only option.

Research shows that ulcers often appear as the wound becomes very serious, requiring a lower limb amputation. Wounds need to be treated as soon as possible to avoid serious health problems. Some complications include foot injury, infections, ulcers, damage to nerves, and poor blood flow.


Treatment

The best treatment is prevention, since medical treatment for diabetic wounds provides limited help. If a wound occurs, treatment can include:

  • Keeping all wounds clean and properly dressed

  • Antibiotics

  • Surgical debridement (removal) of dead or infected tissue

  • Surgery for limb amputation when there is a serious infection

If you discover diabetic foot ulcers on your feet or suspect that one is developing, you should consult your doctor and Immediately seek treatment for your wound to prevent a longer healing time. Physicians are generally capable of treating wounds on a day-to-day basis. Specialists in wound care, on the other hand, deal with more severe conditions, such as non-healing wounds or infections. Additionally, they treat patients with conditions that make healing wounds more difficult, such as patients with diabetic wounds.

Physician practices like Skilled Physicians Group and Skilled Wound Care hire dedicated wound care doctors to work with nursing facilities to provide expert care right at the bedside of patients. This not only aids patients in receiving the critical care they require, but also creates an important opportunity for doctors seeking a career change.


Are you interested in learning more about wound care? Skilled Wound Care offers educational material on wounds and treatment. Click here to learn more. Or maybe you’re a physician who has an interest in wound care careers? Contact us today to begin training.

 

Skilled Wound Care is a mobile surgical practice committed to transforming the chronic wound care model in nursing facilities. Wound care experts make weekly bedside visits to patients in long-term care facilities, avoiding transfers to hospitals or clinics. Our expert physicians give patients the most up-to-date and effective wound treatments, and educate facility staff on how to help patients continue to heal quickly and effectively between visits. This model of collaborative care allows SWC’s physicians to improve patients’ lives and health outcomes, to empower nursing staff, and to raise public awareness. Skilled Wound Care, along with its nurse and nursing home partners, is working every day to positively transform traditional nursing home wound care.

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