We heal 95 percent of people who come to us with chronic wounds within 12 weeks. For people with diabetic foot ulcers or wounds that become infected after surgery, this can mean the difference between good health and losing a limb.

What to Know About Chronic Wounds

  • Chronic wound causes: A wound needs a good supply of blood as well as oxygen and other nutrients in order to heal. It also needs to stay free of infection. A wound that will not heal properly is usually not getting the blood and nutrients it needs, or an infection has set in.

  • Types of chronic wounds: The most common types of chronic wounds we see are:

    • Ulcers, often caused by diabetes, vascular issues (like deep vein thrombosis) or bed sores

    • Surgical wounds, including incisions that don’t heal properly

    • Radiation wounds, either from accidental exposure or from a therapeutic treatment

    • Infections, which can be bacterial, fungal or viral

    • Ischemic wounds, which are wounds that are not getting enough blood supply

  • 30-day rule: Chronic wound symptoms vary, depending on the type of wound. The area around the wound may be red and swollen, or in the case of ischemic wounds, it may be pale and cold. Ulcers may also look different depending on the root cause. If you have a wound that has not healed within 30 days, make an appointment to see us.

Experience the Blessing Difference: Healing Chronic Wounds

Primary care doctors and specialists refer their patients to Blessing for healing of chronic wounds because we have the region’s leading program. We offer:

  • Dedicated specialists: All of our practitioners are either certified in wound care or working toward certification. This includes 4 certified wound care nurses and 2 doctors who are board-certified in wound care. Certifications like these require extra training and passing a rigorous exam.

  • Diagnostic approach: To heal a chronic wound, we need to know what is causing the problem. Is it related to a person’s diabetes? Is it a vascular problem? Is there an infection? Could it be related to nutrition? We look at a wide range of factors to figure out what we can do to get the wound to heal quickly. We excel at finding the root cause and offering the right treatment.

  • Many treatment options: We heal 95 percent of people within 12 weeks, using treatments including:

    • Debridement, or cutting away dead, diseased and damaged tissue around the wound

    • Venous ablation, or using heat to destroy tissue and close veins in the leg that may be causing ulcers or other problems

    • Compression therapy, which squeezes the wound to increase blood flow

    • Biologic application, which acts as a skin substitute to encourage healing

    • Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which involves breathing in 100 percent saturated oxygen in a chamber to increase blood flow to the chronic wound

Contact Us

To schedule an appointment with a Blessing wound care specialist or refer a patient, please call (217) 228-5535.