Wound Care in Laredo, Texas

Helping Wounds Heal

Some wounds (any type of break in the skin) heal on their own with a bandage and a little patience, but those that don't heal normally require specialized and aggressive medical treatment. If a wound does not improve after four weeks, or does not heal within eight weeks, it is considered a chronic or non-healing wound.

Associated with inadequate circulation, poorly functioning veins and immobility, non-healing wounds lead to lower quality of life, may lead to amputations and can even be life threatening — especially for those with diabetes and heart conditions.

The Wound Healing Center at Doctors Hospital 

Conveniently located at Doctors Hospital, the specialists at the Wound Healing Center provide specialized treatment for chronic or non-healing wounds. The outpatient clinic operated in conjunction with Healogics™, the nation’s largest provider of advanced wound care services.

The specially trained team of physicians, nurses and technicians at the Wound Healing Center evaluate and treat a variety of wounds, including:

• Pressure sores (stages 1, 2, 3 and 4)
• Ulcers (neuropathic and others)
• Surgical incisions
• Burns
• Ischemic wounds

Typical treatments include removing unhealthy tissue, oral medication as well as topical solutions. The Wound Healing Center also offers advanced wound care therapies including topical wound therapy, growth-factor therapy, tissue therapy, dressing selection, special shoes, and patient education. In some cases, a more complex treatment plan involving hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBT) may be used to treat non-healing wounds.

For wounds to heal properly, patients must be active participants in their treatment. This includes following directions for home wound care, such as changing dressings and protecting against further injuries. The Wound Healing Center uses an interdisciplinary model of care, including infectious-disease management, physical therapy, occupational therapy, laboratory evaluation, nutritional management, pain management, diabetes education and other areas to address total patient health.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

The air we breathe consists of 21 percent oxygen at an air pressure of approximately 14.7 pounds per square inch. During hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBT), a patient lies in a clear acrylic chamber and breathes 100 percent oxygen at pressures two to three times the atmosphere's normal pressure. This allows the body to absorb more oxygen than normal. As a result, oxygen-rich blood flows to a wound site, speeding the wound healing process and leading to a number of benefits such as decreased swelling, the formation of new micro blood vessels and increased protection against infection.

Conditions that respond most favorably to HBT are bone infections that do not heal with standard treatment, crush injuries and reattachment of severed limbs, deep tissue injury from radiation therapy and skin grafts or flaps that are not healing.

Getting Started

The Wound Healing Center is located next to Doctors Hospital Regional Cancer Treatment Center. Many health insurance plans cover Wound Healing Center treatments. Call 956-523-3480 for a consultation.