A wound is when there is a disruption of the normal process to the skin and skin architecture. A wound can occur on any part of the human body and with the normal wound physiology, the healing is anticipated to progress through the normal stages of wound healing.
This is a case where parts of the lower leg, ankle or foot where the the skin tissue has been affected or broken down and would not heal, the term is known as leg ulcer, they can also be called “open sores”.
With people suffering from leg ulcers, the natural order of how a skin heals when the skin is ever broken, such as in a graze or cut, to how a scab is formed until a skin grows underneath to eventually healing the skin, has been affected and as a result remains open. When the skin is open as a leg ulcer or chronic open wound it can get infected and ooze fluid.
Ulcers can come big or small, with the patient in pain or sometimes not, with or without smell, wet or dry. It is always a good for sufferers of wound that wouldn’t heal to seek medical attention to check that there is nothing else going on such as a rare skin condition or cancerous.
To get a proper understanding of leg ulcers, and treating them, how they look on the surface might not really says or show it all. What is required is to understand the underlying cause and the best way is seeking professional help through medical assistance as soon as possible.
Part of what we do at Home of Life Foundation is providing people or sufferers of chronic wound in Africa(particularly in Ghana) with access to the medical assistance, because most of them live in remote areas and in some case with not enough to seek the help needed and in other situations cultural belief stand in the way of them getting help.