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A wound is any disruption of or damage to living tissue, such as skin, mucous membranes, or organs. [1] [2] Wounds can either be the sudden result of direct trauma (mechanical, thermal, chemical), or can develop slowly over time due to underlying disease processes such as diabetes mellitus, venous/arterial insufficiency, or immunologic disease. [3]
The International Red Cross wound classification system is a system whereby certain features of a wound are scored: the size of the skin wound(s); whether there is a cavity, fracture or vital structure injured; the presence or absence of metallic foreign bodies. A numerical value is given to each feature (E, X, C, F, V, and M).
Timing is important to wound healing. Critically, the timing of wound re-epithelialization can decide the outcome of the healing. [11] If the epithelization of tissue over a denuded area is slow, a scar will form over many weeks, or months; [12] [13] If the epithelization of a wounded area is fast, the healing will result in regeneration.
Abrasions on elbow and lower arm. The elbow wound will produce a permanent scar. A first-degree abrasion involves only epidermal injury. A second-degree abrasion involves the epidermis as well as the dermis and may bleed slightly. A third-degree abrasion involves damage to the subcutaneous layer and the skin and is often called an avulsion.
Research into hormones and wound healing has shown estrogen to speed wound healing in elderly humans and in animals that have had their ovaries removed, possibly by preventing excess neutrophils from entering the wound and releasing elastase. [26] Thus the use of estrogen is a future possibility for treating chronic wounds.
Treatment is typically to avoid the ulcer getting infected, remove any excess discharge, maintain a moist wound environment, control the edema, and ease pain caused by nerve and tissue damage. Topical antibiotics are normally used to prevent the ulcer getting infected, and the wound or ulcer is usually kept clear of dead tissue through surgical ...
Pressure ulcers can trigger other ailments, cause considerable suffering, and can be expensive to treat. Some complications include autonomic dysreflexia, bladder distension, bone infection, pyarthrosis, sepsis, amyloidosis, anemia, urethral fistula, gangrene and very rarely malignant transformation (Marjolin's ulcer – secondary carcinomas in chronic wounds).
A hippopotamus with an avulsion injury to its face. In medicine, an avulsion is an injury in which a body structure is torn off by either trauma or surgery (from the Latin avellere, meaning "to tear off"). [1]