Pressure Sores - Caron Cares

this image shows the parts of the body most prone to pressure sores

Pressure sores

Having seen pressure sores at close quarters I won’t shock you with a picture of them. Instead I have chosen to share the image above showing areas of the body vulnerable to developing them.

What is a pressure sore?

Pressure sores, pressure ulcers or bedsores are the names given to an injury that breaks down the skin and underlying tissue. They are caused when an area of skin is placed under pressure.

The extra pressure disrupts the flow of blood through the skin. Without a blood supply, the affected skin becomes starved of oxygen and nutrients, and begins to break down, leading to an ulcer forming.

Pressure ulcers tend to affect people with health conditions that make it difficult to move, especially those confined to lying in a bed or sitting for prolonged periods of time.

Conditions that affect the flow of blood through the body, such as type 2 diabetes can also make a person more vulnerable to pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers can range in severity from patches of discoloured skin to open wounds that expose the underlying bone or muscle.

It is thought that just under half a million people in the UK will develop at least one pressure ulcer in any given year. Usually people with an underlying health condition – for example, around 1 in 20 people who are admitted to hospital with a sudden illness will develop a pressure ulcer.

Those over 70 years old are especially vulnerable to pressure ulcers, as they are more likely to have mobility problems and thinner skin.

Complications of pressure sores.

Not only can they be very uncomfortable and upsetting they also sometimes lead to blood poisoning and gangrene with the most serious cases requiring surgical intervention.

Treatment of Pressure sores.

Whilst prevention is better than cure in some instances even the best care will not stop someone developing a pressure sore. Dressings and creams are used to speed the healing process and special mats are available to spread the pressure more evenly. One company who have a clinically proven that their Treat Ezi mats work in both preventing and healing sores is Dan Medica South

Here is their You Tube video explaining their pressure relieving mat.