The Personal Impact of Daily Wound Care for Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Dermatology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Suzanne Moloney ◽  
Barry M. McGrath ◽  
Davood Roshan ◽  
Georgina Gethin

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Recurring nodules, abscesses, and lesions characterise hidradenitis suppurativa (HS): a chronic, inflammatory skin disorder. Globally the prevalence of HS is estimated to be around 1% of the population. Leakage, pain, and odour from HS wounds require substantial management. Little is known of the personal burdens that routine wound management imposes on the patient. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> To evaluate how routine HS wound management impacts patients in terms of the time spent changing dressings, the number of dressings required per day, pain experienced during dressing changes, and negative impact on various domains of their personal lives. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> An anonymous online questionnaire was posted on closed social media patient support groups between April and May 2019. Pearson χ<sup>2</sup> test was used to evaluate if Hurley stages influenced the personal impact of wound care routines on patients. Statistical significance was determined as <i>p</i> value &#x3c;0.05. <b><i>Results:</i></b> In total<i>,</i> 908 people from 28 countries responded. Of these, 81% (<i>n</i> = 734) reported that regular dressing changes negatively impacted on their quality of life. Most patients, 82% (<i>n</i> = 744), experience pain during dressing changes. 16% (<i>n</i> = 142) of patients required five or more dressings daily, and 12% (<i>n</i> = 108) spend over 30 min daily tending to wounds. Patients indicated high levels of dissatisfaction with currently available wound dressings. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> HS wound management imposes a substantial personal burden on patients. There is a clear unmet need for HS-specific wound dressings and wound care provisions, and a greater awareness of the condition and its impact is needed among clinicians.

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinchi Feng ◽  
Jinsong Hao

: Chronic wounds remain a significant public problem and the development of wound treatments has been a research focus for the past few decades. Despite advances in the products derived from endogenous substances involved in a wound healing process (e.g. growth factors, stem cells, and extracellular matrix), effective and safe wound therapeutics are still limited. There is an unmet need to develop new therapeutics. Various new pathways and targets have been identified and could become a molecular target in designing novel wound agents. Importantly, many existing drugs that target these newly identified pathways could be repositioned for wound therapy, which will facilitate fast translation of research findings to clinical applications. This review discusses the newly identified pathways/targets and their potential uses in the development of wound therapeutics. Some herbs and amphibian skins have been traditionally used for wound repairs and their active ingredients have been found to act in these new pathways. Hence, screening these natural products for novel wound therapeutics remains a viable approach. The outcomes of wound care using natural wound therapeutics could be improved if we can better understand their cellular and molecular mechanisms and fabricate them in appropriate formulations, such as using novel wound dressings and nano-engineered materials. Therefore, we also provide an update on the advances in the wound therapeutics from natural sources. Overall, this review offers new insights into novel wound therapeutics.


2021 ◽  
pp. 613-621
Author(s):  
Sebastian Probst ◽  
Georgina Gethin

Nursing aspects of palliative wound care are driven by patient and family goals integrated with three components of wound management: the management or palliation of the underlying cause of the wound, management of wound-related symptoms, and management of the wound and peri-wound skin. Wounds most commonly encountered include pressure ulcers, fungating malignant wounds, and fistulae. Patients with blistering skin conditions, inherited and acquired, have extensive long-standing wounds and palliative care needs. In addition, meticulous skin care for patients of all ages with debilitating long-term conditions is crucial to prevent unnecessary skin breakdown. The symptoms and local problems associated with broken skin and wounds include odour, exudate, excoriation, maceration, bleeding, pain, and pruritus. Key clinical interventions include the application of wound dressings and skin care products. Unless these are managed effectively and consistently, body image and feelings of self-worth are affected together with the ability to socialize and maintain function, including, for some people, employment.


Author(s):  
Patricia Grocott ◽  
Georgina Gethin ◽  
Sebastian Probst

Nursing aspects of palliative wound care are driven by patient and family goals integrated with three components of wound management: the management or palliation of the underlying cause of the wound, management of wound-related symptoms, and management of the wound and peri-wound skin. Wounds most commonly found include pressure ulcers, fungating malignant wounds, and fistulae. Patients with blistering skin conditions, inherited and acquired, have extensive longstanding wounds and palliative care needs. In addition, meticulous skin care for patients of all ages with debilitating long-term conditions is crucial to prevent unnecessary skin breakdown. The symptoms and local problems associated with broken skin and wounds include odour, exudate, excoriation, maceration, bleeding, pain, and pruritus, and key clinical interventions include the application of wound dressings and skin care products. Unless these are managed effectively and consistently, body image and feelings of self-worth are affected together with the ability to socialize and maintain employment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 228080002110549
Author(s):  
Michael Rodrigues ◽  
Thilagavati Govindharajan

A hydrocellular functional material as a wound dressing is developed and it is found to be superior in its efficacy as compared to some of the comparator controls in diabetic wound healing studies. A study on wound contraction and Histopathological analysis is done in rats. The efficacy of the dressing is comparable to the established wound dressings like Carboxymethyl cellulose alginate dressings and autolytic enzyme based hydrogel. It is found to be superior to Polyhexamethylene biguanide dressing used as reference controls in this study. The reason for good wound healing performance of the dressing can be attributed to a combined property of effective exudates management and broad spectrum antimicrobial effect. The concept of functional hydro cellular material has shown good results due to the excellent balance of exudates pickup and drying it out. This ensures moist wound healing conditions on the wound. Because of its porous nature it allows good air flow and gaseous exchange in the structure. The cationic sites created on the surface of the dressing ensure a good antimicrobial action on the exudates in the dressing. It reduces the infection load on the wound. The nonleaching property of the dressing also helps in preventing the generation of more resistant and mutant strains of the microbes. The developed dressing can be used as a relatively durable long lasting dressing for wound management in diabetic wounds. The need of repetitive wound dressing changes can be brought down with this concept of dressing. It is not only cost effective in terms of its material cost but also is a cost effective solution when entire wound management cost is considered. Such novel wound dressing material can change the quality of life of diabetic wound patients especially in developing world, where access to functional advanced wound care dressings is limited.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel G Metcalf ◽  
Philip G Bowler

Abstract Background Hard-to-heal wounds are often compromised by the presence of biofilm. This presents an infection risk, yet traditional antimicrobial wound care products and systemic antibiotics are often used despite the uncertainty of therapeutic success and wound progression. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical impact of a next-generation anti-biofilm Hydrofiber wound dressing (AQUACEL Ag+ Extra[AQAg+ E]) in hard-to-heal wounds that had previously been treated unsuccessfully with traditional silver-, iodine- or polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB)-containing dressings and products and/or systemic antibiotics. Methods Clinical case study evaluations of the anti-biofilm dressing were conducted, where deteriorating or stagnant wounds were selected by clinicians and primary dressings were replaced by the anti-biofilm dressing for up to 4 weeks, or as deemed clinically appropriate, with monitoring via case report forms. The data was stratified for cases where traditional silver-, iodine- or PHMB-containing products, or systemic antibiotics, had been used prior to the introduction of the anti-biofilm dressing. Results Sixty-five cases were identified for inclusion, wounds ranging in duration from 1 week to 20 years (median: 12 months). In 47 (72%) cases the wounds were stagnant, while 15 (23%) were deteriorating; 3 wounds were not recorded. After an average of 4.2 weeks of management with the anti-biofilm dressing (range: 1–11 weeks), in 11 (17%) cases the wounds had healed (i.e. complete wound closure), 40 (62%) wounds improved, 9 (14%) wounds remained the same and 5 (8%) wounds deteriorated. Conclusions The introduction of this anti-biofilm dressing into protocols of care that had previously involved wound management with traditional antimicrobial products and/or antibiotics was shown to facilitate improvements in the healing status of most of these hard-to-heal wounds. Dressings containing proven anti-biofilm technology, in combination with antimicrobial silver and exudate management technology, appear to be an effective alternative to traditional antimicrobial products and antibiotics in the cases presented here. The use of antimicrobial wound dressings that contain anti-biofilm technology may have a key role to play in more effective wound management and antibiotic stewardship.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 284-296
Author(s):  
Mark G Rippon ◽  
Alan A Rogers ◽  
Karen Ousey

Background: Traditionally, infections are treated with antimicrobials (for example, antibiotics, antiseptics, etc), but antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become one of the most serious health threats of the 21st century (before the emergence of COVID-19). Wounds can be a source of infection by allowing unconstrained entry of microorganisms into the body, including antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. The development of new antimicrobials (particularly antibiotics) is not keeping pace with the evolution of resistant microorganisms and novel ways of addressing this problem are urgently required. One such initiative has been the development of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes, which educate healthcare workers, and control the prescribing and targeting of antimicrobials to reduce the likelihood of AMR. Of great importance has been the European Wound Management Association (EWMA) in supporting AMS by providing practical recommendations for optimising antimicrobial therapy for the treatment of wound infection. The use of wound dressings that use a physical sequestration and retention approach rather than antimicrobial agents to reduce bacterial burden offers a novel approach that supports AMS. Bacterial-binding by dressings and their physical removal, rather than active killing, minimises their damage and hence prevents the release of damaging endotoxins. Aim: Our objective is to highlight AMS for the promotion of the judicious use of antimicrobials and to investigate how dialkylcarbamoyl chloride (DACC)-coated dressings can support AMS goals. Method: MEDLINE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Google Scholar were searched to identify published articles describing data relating to AMS, and the use of a variety of wound dressings in the prevention and/or treatment of wound infections. The evidence supporting alternative wound dressings that can reduce bioburden and prevent and/or treat wound infection in a manner that does not kill or damage the microorganisms (for example, by actively binding and removing intact microorganisms from wounds) were then narratively reviewed. Results: The evidence reviewed here demonstrates that using bacterial-binding wound dressings that act in a physical manner (for example, DACC-coated dressings) as an alternative approach to preventing and/or treating infection in both acute and hard-to-heal wounds does not exacerbate AMR and supports AMS. Conclusion: Some wound dressings work via a mechanism that promotes the binding and physical uptake, sequestration and removal of intact microorganisms from the wound bed (for example, a wound dressing that uses DACC technology to successfully prevent/reduce infection). They provide a valuable tool that aligns with the requirements of AMS (for example, reducing the use of antimicrobials in wound treatment regimens) by effectively reducing wound bioburden without inducing/selecting for resistant bacteria.


2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (8) ◽  
pp. 4734-4741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip J. Finley ◽  
Rhy Norton ◽  
Cindy Austin ◽  
Amber Mitchell ◽  
Sara Zank ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTIncreased utilization of inorganic silver as an adjunctive to many medical devices has raised concerns of emergent silver resistance in clinical bacteria. Although the molecular basis for silver resistance has been previously characterized, to date, significant phenotypic expression of these genes in clinical settings is yet to be observed. Here, we identified the first strains of clinical bacteria expressing silver resistance at a level that could significantly impact wound care and the use of silver-based dressings. Screening of 859 clinical isolates confirmed 31 harbored at least 1 silver resistance gene. Despite the presence of these genes, MIC testing revealed most of the bacteria displayed little or no increase in resistance to ionic silver (200 to 300 μM Ag+). However, 2 isolates (Klebsiella pneumoniaandEnterobacter cloacae) were capable of robust growth at exceedingly high silver concentrations, with MIC values reaching 5,500 μM Ag+. DNA sequencing of these two strains revealed the presence of genes homologous to known genetic determinants of heavy metal resistance. Darkening of the bacteria's pigment was observed after exposure to high silver concentrations. Scanning electron microscopy images showed the presence of silver nanoparticles embedded in the extracellular polymeric substance of both isolates. This finding suggested that the isolates may neutralize ionic silver via reduction to elemental silver. Antimicrobial testing revealed both organisms to be completely resistant to many commercially available silver-impregnated burn and wound dressings. Taken together, these findings provide the first evidence of clinical bacteria capable of expressing silver resistance at levels that could significantly impact wound management.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 2815-2824
Author(s):  
Debosmita Datta ◽  
Raman Suresh kumar

Management of wound care mainly depends upon the advancement of innovative and effective wound care product to achieve speedy recovery and minimising scar formation. Wound healing management has been always an interesting field of research till date due to serious need for new wound treatment. Appropriate wound care is a significant challenge because of the complications associated with wounds as well as low permeability through the skin. The interconnected events of wound healing occur simultaneously to restore the tissue integrity and functions of the cells. Wound healing gets hampered by numerous factors. These physiological events occur easily in normal human being, but in some situations these molecular events are affected, resulting in hard to heal/ chronic wounds. In current years nanotechnology has emerged as an exciting field with several applications in skin regeneration. These nanoscale delivery systems have numerous benefits in the healing process such as decrease in drug’s cytotoxicity, administration of poorly water-soluble drugs, better skin permeation, controlled release behaviour, antimicrobial activity, as well as stimulation of fibroblast proliferation and reduced inflammation. Thus, emerged as an effective strategy and approach for the treatment of chronic wounds. This review briefly discusses about the wounds, characteristics of an ideal wound dressings along with a special mention regarding the several strategies of wound healing by nanotechnology with their functions and advantages.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_6) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Caine ◽  
A Bannon ◽  
Z Moinuddin

Abstract Introduction Wound closure and dressing choice is a decision largely impacted by factors including surgeon preference and unit standard. This service improvement project aimed to assess the difference between skin clips, the current unit standard, and a tissue adhesive (Liquiband) after renal transplantation. Method Data was collected retrospectively from July 2020 onwards. Outcome measures included the incidence of surgical site infections (SSI), cost, and nursing preference. Forty transplanted patients were selected, comprising the first twenty patients with skin clips and the first twenty patients with tissue adhesive. Medical notes and GP records were reviewed for any documented SSI or antibiotic prescription within six weeks of transplantation. A cost analysis was performed. Additionally, an online survey was distributed to nursing staff using Likert scales in response to a series of statements about wound care. Results There were no documented SSIs in either group, and no patients commenced antibiotics for a wound infection. On average, there was a 45% cost saving when using tissue adhesive compared to skin clips and additional wound dressings. 100% of nurses strongly agreed or agreed that wound care was easier with tissue adhesive, and 93% agreed that considerably more time is spent on wound care for patients with skin clips. Conclusions These results suggest that tissue adhesive offers comparable incidence of SSIs compared with skin clips. Furthermore, tissue adhesive is cheaper, more time-efficient, and preferred by nursing staff in post-operative wound care.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 232-232
Author(s):  
Dara LoBuono ◽  
Mehmet Uygur

Abstract Objectives To compare the nutrition behaviors of people with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A 34-item open- and closed-ended online questionnaire that explores the nutrition behaviors before and during COVID-19 was distributed through PD community and support groups nationwide between September 17-December 28, 2020. To check for differences in variables before and during COVID-19, paired-sample t-tests were used and the level of statistical significance was P &lt; 0.05. Responses to an open-ended question around how COVID-19 has impacted nutrition and eating was analyzed for preliminary themes by the lead researcher. Results Sixty-three PwPD (31 females) completed the survey. The average age of participants was 69.5 ± 7.5 years and average time since diagnosis was 9.7 ± 7.5 years. Self-reported mean body weight before the pandemic and during the pandemic decreased significantly (78.8 ± 18.7 vs. 77.6 ± 16.6 kg, P = 0.036). The majority of participants reported no change in the following nutrition behaviors: appetite (69.4%), fruit intake (71%), and vegetable consumption (72.6%). While 52.5% of participants reported the amount eaten daily stayed the same, 24.6% of participants reported a total/slight decrease in the amount eaten daily, and 22.9% reported a total/slight increase in the amount eaten daily. Just under 16% of participants reported difficulties with getting the food that they preferred during COVID-19. Since COVID-19, 63.9% of participants reported no change in satisfaction with eating habits, while 27.9% of participants reported a total/slight decrease in satisfaction. Responses to open-ended questions revealed a two-fold trend; PwPD reported either consuming more home-cooked, healthier foods or an increase in snacking of sweets and “junk” foods. Of 60 PwPD, 40%, agreed or strongly agreed they would follow an online free nutrition program. Conclusions Further research is needed to understand if change in weight status is caused by lifestyle or disease progression. Although our data indicates some concern around nutrition, research on physical activity changes during COVID-19 is needed to paint a better picture of how COVID-19 has impacted PwPD's health-related lifestyle choices. Funding Sources There was no funding for this study.


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