Thirty percent of serious pressure sores are on the heels. These ulcers occur among people who cannot move their feet. This could be due to a stroke, leg injury or inability to walk.
Tag Archives: skin damage
And Then He Got a Bedsore
One day, Mom noticed that his heels were a bit red. A couple days later he had some oozing blisters. Then, when the blisters broke open, there was a hole all the way down to muscle and I could feel the bone underneath. A “bedsore” is a disastrous wound. In the last several posts I have discussed skin tears. They are common as people get older. Fortunately, bedsores are less common than skin tears. But bedsores, now more commonly called “pressure sores”, are much more serious. They often result in prolonged hospitalization and nursing home […]
Yikes, a skin tear!
In my last post, I discussed preventative care for fragile skin. But even with extra care, skin tears happen. Healthy skin stretches when bumped or pulled. Fragile skin rips open. This is especially common on the forearms and calves. We managed many skin tears in our clinic. In fact, we had a ready to go skincare equipment tray. There’s a right way and a wrong way to manage a skin tear. This post will cover both. We saw skin tears managed the wrong way all too often. When a skin tear isn’t managed correctly it […]
I’m always worried about her skin; it gets bruised just like that
Do you know of, or care for, someone who has skin as thin as tissue paper? Even a slight pinch or an accidental bump can result in a skin tear that just bleeds and bleeds. Large brown spots called hemosiderin spots can form on the skin over time (1). That’s when blood gets into the skin but is not completely reabsorbed. Residual iron from the red blood cells results in the brown color. Damage to the skin can also result in irregular white scar tissue that is not elastic and pulls at the skin (2). […]