Wound Care

Open sores (ulcers) on your feet and lower legs require specialized treatment from wound care experts. If you have a leg or foot ulcer, visit the Foot and Ankle Specialists for advanced wound care. At their offices in The Woodlands, Memorial City, and Huntsville, Texas, the practice’s highly experienced foot doctors provide complete wound care services, including the latest advances in ulcer treatment. Call the Foot and Ankle Specialists today or book an appointment online to receive the highest quality wound care.

What is wound care?

Wound care is a service for patients with nonhealing wounds called ulcers. These open sores most often affect the feet and lower legs because of problems with your blood circulation.

Some ulcers stem from tissue breakdown around the veins when blood doesn’t flow back to the heart as it should. Others are caused by poor blood flow in the arteries that bring oxygen to the lower limbs.

The most common wounds are diabetic ulcers. These develop in people with diabetes when excess sugar builds up in their blood. The high sugar levels damage the blood vessels, reducing circulation. Another complication affecting people with diabetes is diabetic peripheral neuropathy, where the nerves in the feet suffer damage.

The combination of poor blood flow and numbness from neuropathy dramatically increases the risk of wounds developing.

Why do I need specialized wound care?

Ulcers of all kinds require specialized care. One reason is that they’re resistant to healing, so applying standard treatments won’t work. Another problem is infection. Bacteria enter wounds easily, causing an infection that can spread into the bone and destroy large areas of tissue.

Infections can develop into gangrene, where the tissues die. Without prompt, specialized treatment, gangrene can spread into the rest of your body. Because gangrene can be life-threatening, sometimes the only choice is amputation to remove all the infected tissue.

What does wound care involve?

The Foot and Ankle Specialists of The Woodlands team uses advanced techniques to prevent and treat infections and help wounds heal. First, they debride the wound, removing all dead and infected tissue and cleaning the wound thoroughly.

Some of the many wound care treatments they might use include:

• Antibiotics for infected ulcers
• Antiplatelet or anti-clotting medicines
• Compression therapies
• Moist-to-moist dressings
• Hydrogel or alginate dressings
• Collagen and antimicrobial dressings
• Synthetic skin substitutes

You might need minimally invasive procedures like peripheral angioplasty or vein ablation to improve the blood flow to your feet. The wound care experts at the Foot and Ankle Specialists of The Woodlands work closely with vascular surgeons (blood circulation doctors) who do these procedures. Alternative therapies are also available.

How do alternative therapies help with wound care?

Alternative therapies use biological substances to boost your body’s natural healing ability and create healthy new cells. These substances are a safe and effective treatment for many foot and ankle conditions. In wound care, wraps that contain these substances help ulcers heal.

Call the Foot and Ankle Specialists of The Woodlands today or schedule a consultation online for cutting-edge wound care.