You never gave leg wounds a thought. When you were a kid and skinned your knee — or as you grew older and maybe suffered a burn, bruise, or cut — within hours or days you’d notice the signs of healing.
A healthy body is primed to heal. Just seconds after a wound starts to bleed and flush out debris and bacteria, your blood cells clump together — coagulate — to stop the flow of blood and start the healing process. The clots turn into a scab, which helps protect the wound as your body produces new collagen and other proteins to heal the skin.
But as you grow older, or if you have a condition such as diabetes, you may notice that your wounds don’t heal as quickly as they once did. If you notice non-healing wounds or ulcers on your legs, that’s a clear sign that you have a circulatory problem that puts you at risk for a range of complications from infection to limb loss.
At Texas Heart and Vein Multispecialty Group, our board-certified podiatrist, Nathaniel Alabi, DPM, offers wound care as part of diabetic foot care and treatment for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). A visit to one of our offices in Greater Heights, Pearland Market, or elsewhere throughout the Houston, Texas, area, ensures your wounds get the help they need to heal.
Do you have non-healing wounds on your legs? Here’s what you should do.
Wounds that take more than two weeks to heal need medical attention. If you attempt to ignore the wound or continue self-care options at home, you put yourself at risk for complications.
The wound may grow larger, become infected, or develop gangrene. Once you’ve suffered a non-healing wound for more than three months, it’s considered a chronic problem.
If you have non-healing wounds or ulcers on your legs, you may have an underlying medical condition that impairs the healthy flow of blood to your lower limbs. You may have PAD due to atherosclerosis in your leg veins. Or you may have diabetes.
Venous, or vein, disease restricts the flow of blood due to narrowing of your veins. Without a healthy flush of blood to whisk away debris and start the rebuilding process, your wound can’t heal itself.
Non-healing wounds become more common as you age. About 4% of women and men over age 65 have non-healing leg wounds.
You may be especially puzzled by your non-healing wound if you don’t remember injuring your leg in the first place. However, if you have various medical conditions, the problem may start from the inside out.
If you have varicose veins, you may have a condition called chronic venous insufficiency that causes your blood to flow backward and pool behind faulty valves. High pressure in the leg veins may cause capillaries to burst and create inflammation that leads to leg ulcers.
When your blood glucose levels are too high, it’s more likely that you will develop PAD, in which fats deposit on the blood vessel walls and narrow them. This can also lead to neuropathy, which affects nerve function, so that you could injure your foot or leg and not even feel it.
Peripheral artery disease is a type of atherosclerosis, in which plaque buildup caused by excess fat narrows arteries. The impaired circulation that results makes it harder to heal your wounds. You’re more likely to have PAD if you have diabetes.
High blood pressure may narrow the capillaries in your leg skin, effectively cutting off the blood supply. The skin that the capillaries service then dies, forming ulcers.
If you do have a condition such as diabetes or PAD, you should be extra alert to any abrasion, blister, wound, or burn on your legs. Without treatment, these non-healing wounds can become infected and even gangrenous. In worst case scenarios, your doctor must amputate your foot or limb to save your life.
We help you heal your non-healing wounds with therapies such as medications, antibiotics, and special wound dressings. We also help you make lifestyle changes, including losing excess weight and controlling your blood sugar, to improve your circulation.
Don’t ignore non-healing leg wounds: Get the help you need. Reach out to our team today by phone or message for an appointment at the office nearest you.
We service Greater Heights, Pearland Market, League City, Lake Jackson, Manvel, Rosharen, Alvin, Fresno, Missouri City, Arcola, Friendswood, South Houston, Kingwood Market, Humble, New Chaney, Atasciacita, and Northeast Houston, Texas.
