Useful and Up to Date Advice on Skin Breakdown
Apr 19, 2015 0:54:07 GMT -8
Post by Lαrα on Apr 19, 2015 0:54:07 GMT -8
I have been looking at the advice section of the nurse on the Christopher and Diana Reeve face-book site. I like how she brings the info and its easy to understand.
I love how she points out about the importance of diet in the care of skin, it makes such a significant difference to your skin's management to get the right nutrients. I feel this important factor is often overlooked.
Skin is maintained by keeping a well-balanced diet. Focus on healthy eating choices and food alternatives with good nutrition. Your healthcare provided can connect you with a dietitian if you need assistance in dietary planning.
She also advises on the importance of staying 'off' the sore
If you have any type of pressure sore, stay off the area, don't rub or poke it. Don't apply more pressure to see how the capillaries are filling or rub the area with alcohol. This just adds more pressure, tells you nothing about the wound and makes it worse. These are old spinal cord injury 'wives tales' of treatment. Remove all pressure. Don't add to the problem
Extracts from some of the factual stuff:
A Stage One pressure sore:
Will appear as a red area of skin in lightly pigmented people or a ashy or purplish area in darkly skinned people, mostly over a boney prominence (where the bone is close to the skin without much muscle over it.) A stage one pressure ulcer does not have a break in the skin. Skin color changes should fade in a maximum of 30 minutes time, quicker is better. If it does not, you have a stage one pressure sore
Stage Two pressure sores:
Are noted by an actual opening in the top layer of the skin, the epidermis. This can be a large shallow area or even a tiny little sore on the skin. There might be some drainage. There may be a lot of color change around the area of concern or there could be very little color change
Stage Three pressure sore:
Is a break in the skin that goes into the dermis or the lower level of your skin. You might not be able to tell the difference between a stage two or three but that is ok because your healthcare provider will be able to distinguish the difference. The dermis is the part of the skin that creates elasticity. Damage to this level will create a scar.
Stage Four pressure sores:
Reach deep into the body to muscle sometimes, bone. These sores require a lot of time to heal. Dressing changes are extensive. They have a lot of drainage.
Unclassified:
There is one addition stage of pressure sore called unclassified. This is a wound that is complicated and consists of several stages in different places all in one wound. Sometimes, there is so much debris in the wound that visualization cannot be used to interpret the stage. Unclassifiable is the term used to describe this type of wound.
To read more on the advices that go along with this info click The Source