01/07/2026
This is a very active 89 year old male that had a wound on his left foot for several months prior to being referred to The Wound Ostomy Care Clinic. He had failed all previous treatment. He is a diabetic and was referred to a local diabetes clinic around the same time. They quickly got his blood sugar under control which helped with his wound healing. We also had to convince him to stop mowing all of his neighbors yards for a while. Again, we focused on cleaning the wound up and then on closing the wound. This required frequent sharp debridement and specialized dressings. He also required specific antibiotic therapy once we obtained his wound culture report. Cellular tissue products led to significant improvement in the wound. Our major issue with his wound healing was getting pressure off the area (off-loading). He is dependent upon himself for all activities of daily living. This ruled out devices such as crutches, knee scooters or off-loading boots due to the risk of falls. We worked with him to find shoes and identify other steps that provided partial off-loading. After several months his wound did close and he was discharged.
Just a reminder, no matter how good the wound care you are receiving is there are certain factors that if not corrected your wound WILL NOT CLOSE. The two identified with this patient are elevated blood sugar and off-loading. If you consistently have blood sugars greater than 180mg/dl your wound will not heal. There are some wound care treatments that are not allowed if the patient’s blood sugar is not under control. Off-loading is one of the most difficult issues we must deal with. There are many ways to get weight/pressure off the wound area but not all patients can tolerate them. It often takes some time for us to identify one that works and the patient can tolerate.