ABOUT WOUNDS
How do wounds heal?
When the skin is initially broken from a trauma or injury to the tissue, the healing response begins. There are three phases that occur, all of which overlap at different points in time. Following is what happens in a healthy person.
Inflammatory Phase: This starts from the time of injury and it may last 4 to 6 days. Specialized cells rush to the area where the injury occurred and start to work on stopping the bleeding, destroying bacteria, and cleaning the wound site of cellular debris. Other cells then start to move in to start repairing the tissue.
- Platelets – Cells that help control bleeding
- Neutrophils – Cells that help destroy bacteria
- Macrophages – Cells that help to clean up the wound
Proliferative Phase: This phase may last 3 to 24 days. During this time, collagen fibers are made by cells to act as a scaffold for other cells, and to start filling the wound with new tissue. New blood vessels are formed to deliver more “cellular workers” to the injured area. The cells are constantly communicating with each other to re-build the damaged tissue. The edges of the wound start to pull together as cells start to divide and multiply, finally touching one another and filling in with scar tissue.
- Fibroblasts – Cells that lay down collagen and fibers to re-build the tissue
- Growth Factors – act as messengers between cells
- Enzymes – Proteins that act as messengers between cells
- Endothelial - Cells that help build new blood vessels
Remodeling Phase: This phase may last from 21 days to 2 years. The skin over the newly closed wound is still thin and fragile. So, during this time the collagen fibers reorganize and mature, getting stronger and building a stronger scar. This will continue until the scar tissue regains about 80% of its original strength. The tissue here will be at increased risk for re-injury because it does not regain its 100% original strength and elasticity.
What are the different types of wounds?
Wounds are classified often by the reasons they occur. Some are:
- Acute wound – caused by a trauma or surgery and will heal usually requiring limited care
- Chronic wound – has not progressed in a normal fashion, usually is difficult to heal because of underlying causes (as listed previously).
- Arterial ulcer – caused by reduced blood flow to the area because of diseased arteries.
- Diabetic ulcer – difficult to heal wound because of underlying problems from diabetes mellitus.
- Pressure ulcer – caused by pressure, usually over a bony surface, reducing blood supply to the area, causing tissue necrosis.
- Venous ulcer – impaired vein circulation, which impairs fluid in feet and hands to be returned to the heart and causes swelling or edema.
What stops wounds from healing?
Wound healing in a healthy individual is commonly taken for granted. In an individual who has other associated medical problems, wound healing can become a complicated process, demanding greater attention and greater time for healing to occur. When a wound stops healing or becomes “chronic”, there may be a number of factors that are prohibiting it from healing. Some factors need special consideration to assist the body’s ability to heal its wounds.
Some of these factors are:
- Infection
- Poor blood circulation inhibiting delivery of nutrients to the tissue or antibiotics to the infected wound
- Edema or pooling of blood and body fluids
- Prolonged pressure reducing or halting blood flow to the wound
- Inadequate wound dressing management
- Poor nutrition
- Any combination of these factors or others not mentioned here can keep wounds from healing
How can the MIST Therapy® System help my wound? View Product Information
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