Professional wound care is important for diabetes patients in Jacksonville because minor cuts, scrapes, or blisters can easily become chronic wounds that are prone to dangerous infection. This can mean pain, severely impaired mobility, and even amputation in extreme cases.
Preventing infection of chronic wounds is key to living with diabetes. This is especially true here in Northeast Florida where people enjoy walking on the beach, playing golf, and enjoying the outdoors with friends and family all year long.
What are chronic wounds?
Chronic wounds are wounds that do not heal, or that are slow to heal. Whether it’s a cut, scrape, or ruptured blister, the wound is vulnerable to infection as long as it remains open and unhealed. For diabetes patients, this can become a life-threatening situation if left untreated.
Patients should be concerned about any wound that doesn’t begin to quickly heal after cleaning and bandaging. Self-care alone is not enough to treat chronic wounds, so assistance from a medical professional should be sought as soon as it appears that a wound is not healing.
Why do people with diabetes get chronic wounds?
Diabetes patients suffer from a variety of conditions which contribute to developing chronic wounds. Nerve damage, or neuropathy, dulls sensations of pain. This means that cuts and scrapes go unnoticed, and blisters are not felt as they begin to develop and eventually rupture while wearing shoes. Reduced blood circulation as a result of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) significantly impairs the body’s ability to heal a wound and increases the chance of infection.
Additionally, a weakened immune system means the body is less able to fight infection overall. This means that the slightest contamination, like getting a small amount of beach sand or seawater in a cut, can be all that a bacterial infection needs to take hold.
How are chronic wounds treated?
A medical professional will clean and apply the appropriate dressing to help the wound heal and prevent infection. A series of visits will typically be required for the doctor or nurse to clean, apply a new dressing, and examine the wound for signs of healing.
Seeking professional care for chronic wounds is vital to maintaining the best possible quality of life when living with diabetes.
Where do I get chronic wound treatment?
Many people think of the hospital when considering chronic wound care, but patients in the Jacksonville area can have chronic wounds professionally treated at Anastasia Medical Group. At our full-service medical facility, we provide a full range of care, from physical therapy and wound care to foot surgery and limb salvage.
If you are suffering from complications of diabetes like foot ulcers or chronic wounds that refuse to heal, make an appointment with our team. We can help you by relieving the pain, taking steps to prevent further complications, and getting you back to living the quality of life you desire. We think every Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Northeast Florida resident deserves that!