Wound Care | Conditions & Treatments

What is Wound Care?

Wound care is specialized treatment for chronic, non-healing wounds. Specialized wound care is critical to the healing process. It can shorten the time to heal, decrease the possibility of infection, and decrease pain.

What Is Wound Care Used For?

Wound care can be used for non-healing wounds caused by the following conditions:

Diabetes
Osteomyelitis
Pressure ulcers
Neuropathic ulcers
Necrotizing infections
Non-healing surgical wounds
Traumatic injuries
Wounds of arterial, venous, or lymphatic origin
Abrasions
Abscesses
Infected cysts
Bites
Skin tears
Hematoma
Lacerations
Complex removal of sutures or staples

UR Medicine's Approach

A treatment program specifically tailored to your needs will be based on the most effective approach, which may include:

Evaluations

Vascular, laboratory, nutritional, and radiology evaluations
Debridement – removal of damaged tissue
Laboratory evaluations
Nutritional evaluations
Pain assessment
Diabetic education
Radiology evaluations
Mobility assessments
Transcutaneous oxygen monitoring – measuring oxygen in the tissue

Medical Treatment

Common medical treatments for chronic and non-healing wounds include:

Specialty dressings
Multi-layer compression wraps
Total contact casts
Skin substitutes
Negative pressure wound therapy

Surgical Treatment

Severe wounds that have caused a significant amount of damage to the skin and musculoskeletal system may need expert surgical care and treatment to heal properly. UR Medicine vascular and plastic and reconstructive surgeons use a variety of methods to repair and reconstruct wounds so they heal correctly, restoring function and improving appearance.

Reconstructive surgeries for wounds may include:

Skin grafts
Flap surgery
Tissue expansion surgery
Microvascular surgery

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBO) is used as a treatment for problematic, non-healing wounds that meet specific criteria. Over the course of HBO treatments, patients are evaluated to see if the concentration of oxygen has increased in the blood near the wound. If the oxygen level is higher, the therapy is most likely beneficial to the patient.

During the treatments, you will breathe 100 percent oxygen inside a pressurized chamber, quickly increasing the concentration of oxygen in the bloodstream, where it is delivered to a patient's wound site for faster healing. Essentially, HBO therapy helps heal the wound from the inside out. This therapy can help reduce swelling, fight infection, and build new blood vessels, ultimately producing healthy tissue. It is also effective in fighting certain types of infections, improving circulation, in stimulating growth of new blood vessels, and in treating soft tissue radiation injuries, chronic refractory osteomyelitis, compromised skin grafts and flaps, and diabetic wounds of the lower extremities.

What Sets Us Apart?

Our UR Medicine wound care is staffed by specialists with specific expertise in complex wound management. The specialized wound care treatment you receive at UR Medicine is designed to complement the care you receive from your primary care and other medical providers, ensuring that everyone on your health care team is working together toward the treatment that’s right for you.

The UR Medicine Wound Healing Center is proud to be accredited by the Undersea Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) since 2014. UHMS accreditation means our facility has met or exceeded the highest standards of care and patient safety through rigorous evaluation of our operations, including equipment, staff and training to ensure that the utmost quality is maintained within the specialty of undersea and hyperbaric medicine.

This accreditation demonstrates UR Medicine’s commitment to providing the highest quality of patient care at our Wound Healing Center. We are proud of our team members for achieving this significant milestone and of their commitment to their patients.

And, as part of a world-class medical center and academic institution, we are dedicated to advancing excellence in health care. In a continued effort to provide our patients and their families with the highest level of care and service, we also have an unwavering commitment to education and research.