Wound that won't heal.

einhander

I got this small wound underneath my foot thumb, it's as big as a grain of rice. It's been 5 months already and it won't heal. It's dry and should be healing. But once a day a mixture of liquid and maybe some blood would come out.

I have other wounds that came out near that area (result of me trying to remove kalyo near that area) but that wound heal quicker. Another wound (again my stupidity ) on the next finger came out but it healed in 1 weeks.

BTW I got this grain of rice wound at the beach. I think there's a bacteria inside that's thriving. I haven't brought it to a doctor yet because the wound is so small.

I'm currently using teramycin plus for 2 weeks now, and I don't think it's working. Can someone suggest a better antibacterial ointment? I've been meaning to bring this to a doctor just didn't have time yet.

Thanks in advance.

Les

Are you sure you're not diabetic?

One possible reason why the wound won't heal is the constant pressure being put on it. You have to find means to offload pressure from the wound or it will have difficulty healing. Infection is another but if it's small, isn't inflamed and it doesn't have pus most likely it's NOT infected. In this case the antibiotic ointment is useless or can even making things worse by by making the wound too wet. A hydrocolloid dressing like Duoderm gel might be better than constantly putting antibiotic ointment. And of course have it seen by a physician.

einhander

Les wrote: »

Are you sure you're not diabetic?

One possible reason why the wound won't heal is the constant pressure being put on it. You have to find means to offload pressure from the wound or it will have difficulty healing. Infection is another but if it's small, isn't inflamed and it doesn't have pus most likely it's NOT infected. In this case the antibiotic ointment is useless or can even making things worse by by making the wound too wet. A hydrocolloid dressing like Duoderm gel might be better than constantly putting antibiotic ointment. And of course have it seen by a physician.

Thanks doc, yes I'm diabetic. I know diabetic has problems healing wound. I thought it's not related to diabetes because other wounds I created around it healed (removing thick kalyo around the wound created other wounds), but then those wounds healed in a week or 2, I'm not sure if I'm at the stage where my wounds wouldn't heal because all my other wounds heal, it's just this one that wouldn't . Is it called puss if it's like a mixture of clear liquid or blood? But that puss is not constantly there, the wound looks dry when I'm dressing it. But then when removing the dressing there's red liquid on the bandage.

If this is related to diabetes then I think I need to see a doctor. But I'm still hoping it's not.

Les

Well, if you have diabetes you should be seeing a doctor regularly, usually every 3 months or so. What's your latest glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) or fasting blood sugar (FBS)? If your diabetes is not adequately controlled your wound will heal slowly or not at all.

Pus is yellowish-green discharge signaling infection, so if it's clear liquid with or without blood it's likely not infected. Therefore, the antibiotic ointment you're putting likely won't help because there's no infection to begin with.

einhander

Doc Les, reporting back, the wound is starting to heal, I took into consideration all the cause you mentioned why wounds won't heal. You mentioned na baka dahil sa pressure. Which makes me think "Oo nga". Di biro ang amount of pressure sa ilalim ng hinlalaki sa paa while walking. It's on my right foot so I also use it for driving. Ni lagyan ko ng ulo ng plastic spoon yung ilalim ng hinlalaki to relieve some pressure to the wounds while walking or driving. And now its starting to heal.

So a big thanks to you Doc Les.

Les

Glad to hear. Offloading pressure from foot wounds is one of the basic tenets in managing non- or slowly-healing wounds in diabetics. Once a wound has started to heal you'll usually just have to give it time (and continue offloading the pressure) and it will eventually heal completely.