You’ve got a cut, scratch, insect bite, burn, or other minor break in the skin on your lower leg. It’s not a big deal; you’ve had these little wounds before, and your body heals them without much issue.
Except, this time, it’s not scabbing over. It’s been about two weeks, and there’s no sign of recovery. Why won’t your leg wound heal?
Dr. Clement Banda of MD Vein & Skin Specialists suggests you consider medical care for chronic venous hypertension, pressure from blood against vein walls that’s usually at its worst in your legs. It’s one of the most common causes of slow-healing leg wounds.
Let’s take a closer look at the reasons why your leg wounds won’t heal.
Before considering why leg wounds refuse to heal, let’s look at how the process usually works. There are four main stages of healing once the skin breaks.
Other factors influence how a wound heals, including nutrition, physical activity, body weight, tobacco use, and the care you provide for the wound during recovery. Let’s look at how leg ulcers interrupt the healing cycle.
The stages of healing require blood flow. Platelets arrive as a component of blood, along with white blood cells, which are agents of the immune system. The building blocks of healing, stem cells and growth factor hormones, are also delivered by the bloodstream.
Veins have valves that help to ensure the one-way flow of blood back to the heart and lungs. These veins can fail, and when they do, blood starts to pool. This is usually the worst in your legs, since the valves work against gravity when you’re upright.
As blood pools in your legs, it presses and stretches the vein walls, which in turn may make more valves fail. Blood trapped in these pools prevents nutrients, healing resources, and oxygen from reaching the tissue.
In the case of leg wounds, that means the stages of the healing cycle can be slowed or stopped. Your body needs intervention to help restore healing conditions.
Contact MD Vein & Skin Specialists when you notice a leg wound is not healing as it should. Call or click to schedule an examination and diagnosis, by phone or online, with our office today.
