The factors discussed include oxygenation, infection, age and sex hormones, stress, diabetes, obesity, medications, alcoholism, smoking, and nutrition. A better understanding of the influence of these factors on repair may lead to therapeutics that improve wound healing and resolve impaired wounds.
Systemic complications include bacterial infections such as cellulitis (affecting skin), osteomyelitis (affecting bone) or septicaemia (affecting blood). Most complications stem from increased bacterial growth, highlighting the need for professional care. As with any ailment, fast action is key.
Although not an all-inclusive list, some of the more common complications include infection, tissue necrosis and gangrene, periwound dermatitis, periwound edema, osteomyelitis, hematomas, and dehiscence.
Wound healing can be delayed by systemic factors that bear little or no direct relation to the location of the wound itself. These include age, body type, chronic disease, immunosuppression, nutritional status, radiation therapy, and vascular insufficiencies.
Systemic diseases.
Common medical conditions that may affect healing are (1) diabetes, (2) vascular diseases, (3) pulmonary diseases, (4) immunocompromised or autoimmune conditions, and (5) conditions that affect the autonomic nervous system.
Systemic Infection
It occurs when microorganisms introduced via the wound bed have proliferated throughout the body. Symptoms of systemic infection include severe sepsis, septic shock, organ failure, and death.
Conditions such as chronic venous insufficiency, arterial insufficiency, and pressure over time, can lead to the reduced reparation capacity of skin injuries, which can lead to non-healing ulcers. A non-healing ulcer, however, should not be regarded as a disease, but rather as a symptom of an underlying state.
An infection that is in the bloodstream is called a systemic infection. An infection that affects only one body part or organ is called a localized infection.
A skin wound that doesn't heal, heals slowly or heals but tends to recur is known as a chronic wound. Some of the many causes of chronic (ongoing) skin wounds can include trauma, burns, skin cancers, infection or underlying medical conditions such as diabetes. Wounds that take a long time to heal need special care.
Indicators of wound infection include redness, swelling, purulent exudate, smell, pain, and systemic illness in the absence of other foci. Subtle signs of local wound infection include unhealthy “foamy” granulation tissue, contact bleeding, tissue breakdown, and epithelial bridging.
Issues of Concern
Poor wound healing can occur due to the disruption of any of the three phases of healing. Common risk factors for abnormal healing include the presence of necrotic tissue, infection, ischemia, smoking, diabetes, malnutrition, glucocorticoid use, and radiation exposure.
An infected wound is a localized defect or excavation of the skin or underlying soft tissue in which pathogenic organisms have invaded into viable tissue surrounding the wound. Infection of the wound triggers the body's immune response, causing inflammation and tissue damage, as well as slowing the healing process.
Systemic infections can also be as severe as local infections & life threatening, example Sepsis etc. Sepsis or blood poisoning is the leading cause of death in intensive care units. It affects over 26 million people worldwide each year. 258,000 people die from sepsis every year in the U.S. alone.
When germs get into a person's body, they can cause an infection. If you don't stop that infection, it can cause sepsis. Bacterial infections cause most cases of sepsis. Sepsis can also be a result of other infections, including viral infections, such as COVID-19 or influenza, or fungal infections.
Infections may affect only part of the body (a local infection) or the whole body (a systemic infection). Abscesses and urinary bladder infections are examples of local infections. Severe systemic infections may have life-threatening effects, such as sepsis or septic shock.
By systemic factors, we refer to the factors that are external to the substance and method of psychology, but are associated with the environment in which psychologists operate.
Understanding these factors can help people living with non-healing wounds and the people who care for them. These four factors are frequent wound care visits, early intervention of wounds where healing has stalled, engaging patients in their care, and using advanced care modalities, including debridement.
One of the most dramatic factors that can affect wound healing is reduced or poor blood supply to the wound. The oxygen and nutrients that new blood carries to the wound are key to successful healing. A wound that is not getting enough blood could take at least twice as long to heal, if it heals at all.
Stress has been shown to have a negative impact on wound healing. Although both the direct and indirect mechanisms of stress may be responsible for slowed healing, the most prominent impact is through the effects of stress on cellular immunity.