Wound care
Wound care is the treatment and protection of damaged skin and underlying tissue to support healing, control symptoms, and prevent complications.
Wound healing: The biological process through which damaged tissue is repaired and its barrier function restored. Wound care aims to support the overlapping stages of this repair process.
Wound assessment: The evaluation of a wound’s cause, location, dimensions, tissue, drainage, surrounding skin, and healing progress. Care choices depend on the wound’s characteristics and changes over time.
Acute wound: A wound caused by a recent injury or procedure that follows an expected course of healing. Acute wounds often need prompt cleaning, protection, and assessment for deeper injury.
Antiseptic: A substance applied to living tissue to reduce or inhibit microorganisms. Routine use of some antiseptics can harm healing tissue, so cleansing choices require care.
Wound infection prevention: Measures that reduce the chance of microorganisms causing infection in a wound. Clean technique, suitable protection, and monitoring can lower infection risk.
Hemostasis: The process that stops bleeding through blood-vessel constriction, platelet activity, and clot formation. Controlling bleeding is an early priority for many acute wounds.
Wound dressing: A material applied to a wound to protect it and manage moisture, drainage, or other local needs. Dressings are a central tool for shielding wounds and shaping their local environment.
Chronic wound: A wound that fails to progress through healing in an expected time and manner. Persistent wounds require attention to underlying causes as well as local wound care.
Topical antibiotic: An antibiotic applied to the skin to prevent or treat a localized bacterial infection. It is not a substitute for routine wound cleansing and may cause irritation or resistance.
Wound dehiscence: The partial or complete separation of a surgical incision or closed wound. Recognizing separation early matters because the wound may need urgent clinical assessment.