The healing process is activated immediately after the body is injured. This process consists of 4 stages (hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, regeneration) and is influenced by many different factors.
1. Spot element
– Wound environment: A moist environment helps the healing process to take place faster and with less pain than a dry environment because it is easier for cells to grow and reproduce in a more humid environment. Therefore, maintaining a moist environment at the wound plays an important role in wound healing. Recognizing the importance of the wound environment, researchers have invented bandages that both absorb fluid well and help maintain a suitable moist environment for the healing process such as foam, alginates, hydrocolloids.
– Infection, necrosis : When the wound is infected, necrosis will make the inflammatory and proliferative phase in the healing process last longer, thereby slowing down the healing process.
– Pressure: Wounds that are pressed for a long time will reduce blood circulation around the wound area, this will hinder the supply of nutrients for the healing process, so the healing time will also be prolonged. longer.
– Secondary injuries: Secondary injuries caused by dressings can slow down the healing process. Therefore, choosing the right dressing is very important in wound care. Patients should choose advanced dressings that do not adhere to the wound such as foam, hydrocolloid, alginate, film.
2. Whole body element
– Age : the older the age, the longer the healing time. Research shows that wound healing in the elderly is slower than in young people because the inflammatory response in the elderly is altered and the nutritional supply in the elderly is also worse than in young people.
– Chronic diseases : wounds in people with underlying diseases such as diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, etc., usually take longer to heal than in healthy people.
– Nutrition : The patient’s body needs an adequate supply of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals to survive and develop, especially when the body is injured, this need is even higher. If nutritional needs are not met, the healing process will be slower.
– Lifestyle : Patients with unhealthy lifestyle habits such as staying up late, drinking alcohol, smoking, often under stress also slow down the healing process.
– Drugs : Some drugs such as steroids, glucocorticoids, ibuprofen, or chemotherapy drugs, … have the side effect of hindering blood clot formation, the body’s inflammatory response and platelet activity. , thus affecting the healing process, making the healing time longer.