Restarting Wound Healing
Some wounds can take a long time to heal or might fail to heal at all. There are many reasons why your wound might stop healing.
Don’t let a stalled wound stop your treatment plan. The best way to improve wound outcomes is to talk with Wound Specialist Services or your doctor about what you can do to improve wound outcomes or reduce your wound problems.
The Wound Healing Process
When a person sustains an injury to their skin there is an expectation that the wound will heal within a matter of days or weeks. Yet for many, this is far from reality.
Wounds are often painful and debilitating, having a significant impact on the person and those who care for them.
There are a lot of factors that can lead to impaired wound healing such as the cause of the wound, how big it is, where it is located, the age of the person, the presence of other health conditions and lifestyle factors.
Wounds are estimated to affect approximately 450,000 Australian’s and cost the health care system almost $3 billion perannum. They are a significant and under-recognised public health issue.
Many wound sufferers find it very difficult to access health professionals with expertise in caring for wounds. They often experience high-costs associated with treatments, lengthy waiting lists to access care and inconsistencies in wound care practices.
Wound Specialist Services gives you the support you need to create a better life for people with or at risk for wounds.
Don’t let a stalled wound slow you down. The best way to improve outcomes is to talk with your healthcare professional about how you can reduce your wound problems.
Restarting Wound Healing
Your body usually heals a wound in the following four stages:
- stopping the bleeding by forming a blood clot
- triggering the immune system to defend against bacteria and to clean the area (inflammation)
- repairing the injured tissue and healing
- strengthening and formation of a scar
Stopping the bleeding
When you cut or scratch your skin, or get any other injury to your skin, it usually starts to bleed. As your wound bleeds, blood cells begin to clot to stop the bleeding. The blood clot then forms into a scab, which if left untreated, can become a barrier to wound healing.
Inflammation
Once your wound has stopped bleeding, the body can begin cleaning and healing the wound.
As the wound begins to heal, the blood vessels around the wound open allowing more blood flow to the wound making the area look red, swollen, warm and inflamed.
Inflammation is a sign that the wound is starting to heal. It’s what happens when your red and white blood cells work together to heal and fight off infection.
Healing
Once the wound is clean and stable, your body begins healing and rebuliding the site.
This happens when your blood cells (and oxygen from your blood cells) work together to rebuild new skin and create a new layer of protection.
During this stage in the healing process, you might see red, bumpy tissue covering the wound. Over time, the colour of the tissue in the wound becomes pink in colour as the wound heals, followed by formation of scar tissue.
Strengthening
At this stage, your wound may still look pink and stretched or puckered or it may feel itchy or tight over the area. This means that your wound is still healing and your skin is strengthening.
Should your wound stop making progress during any of these stages, then your healing may have stalled, and you need to see a healthcare provider about what to do to get the healing process restarted. Your healthcare provider may have a better understanding of why your wound is having trouble healing.Re
Why wounds stops healing
There are a wide range of reasons why a wound may stop healing, like diet, repetitive trauma, poor circulation, infection or even diabetes. The biggest reason a wound may slow or stop healing is due to a lack of blood supply. Blood contains nutrients and oxygen which is necessary to help a wound heal. When the blood supply to the wound is limited, the healing of your wound may begin to slow or stall.
Another reason a wound may stop healing is due to repetitive trauma, such as unrelieved pressure for those with pressure sores. Wounds can take a long time to heal, and sometimes proper care of the wound may start to be overlooked. Wounds need to be kept clean, and protected with dressings that provide a moist wound environment, absorb leakage and that encourage new cells to grow.
It is important to use the correct treatments as directed to reduce the risk of infection. You should follow dressing instructions recommended by your healthcare provider to best manage wound symptoms.
The most important thing to remember is that wound healing takes time and there is a lot that you and your healthcare professional can do to help improve outcomes by working together.
Wound care treatment at Wound Specialist Services
Patients are mostly referred by their GP, community nurse, aged care provider or allied health professional, and we mostly provide telehealth appointments. During the initial appointment, we perform a comprehensive assessment to identify the type of wound and to identify any underlying problems that might impact on wound healing potential.
Based on the results of the assessment and any diagnostic investigations, we work with you and your usual care provider to develop a customised treatment plan to address each patient’s needs and restart wound healing.
How we treat non-healing wounds
At Wound Specialist Services, we use the latest research evidence and best practice treatment protocols to guide wound care recommendations.
Our Wound Care Team
Wound Specialist Services clinical team has extensive experience and industry knowledge in the specialty area to ensure that clinical care is based on current evidence and best practice strategies to reduce the wound burden and improve quality of life.
Learn more about Wound Specialist Services.
Having questions about restarting wound healing or treating chronic wounds? Download the Complete Guide to Wound Care.