Whether you fell on the ice or cut yourself while slicing a bagel, injuries happen to the best of us. The good news is that whatever you scraped, bumped or scratched usually heals without issue within a week or two.

For some people, wounds don’t heal the way they are supposed to. “If after four weeks of treatment your wound doesn’t heal, it’s considered chronic,” says Fatima Jaffer, MD, CWS, the medical director of the Wound Care Center with Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital and a wound care specialist with Adventist Bolingbrook and Adventist Hinsdale Hospitals. “Chronic wounds need specialized care to be treated effectively.”

Why do some wounds become chronic?
To learn why some wounds become chronic, it helps to first understand the four normal stages of healing.

1. During hemostasis, your cut or sore starts bleeding and a clot forms.
2. During the inflammatory stage, white blood cells start fighting the infection.
3. During the proliferative stage, new skin starts forming.
4. During the remodeling stage, collagen forms and scar tissue appears, eventually fading away.

According to Dr. Jaffer, circulation problems, pressure, certain medications, infections and underlying medical conditions, such as a chronic disease, can affect the way your body heals naturally. Some of these conditions include:

• Diabetes
• Kidney conditions
• Cancer
• Malnutrition
• Rheumatoid arthritis

For example, if someone has diabetes, high blood sugar can prohibit white blood cells from fighting the infection as fast as it should, causing bacteria to grow out of control. When this happens, it prevents or prolongs new tissue growth and can lead to other symptoms.

“The effects of a chronic wound, such as pain, swelling or drainage, can influence every aspect of your life – from physical to social activities,” Dr. Jaffer says. “Because of this, a lot of patients become isolated.”

Comprehensive wound treatment
To prevent more serious complications, Dr. Jaffer suggests seeking treatment as early as possible. “If your wound hasn’t healed within two weeks, see your primary care doctor.”

If a patient’s wound is chronic, he or she can receive comprehensive treatment at Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital’s Wound Care Center. Here, a multidisciplinary care team performs advanced wound therapy, which includes removing any infected tissue, restoring circulation, controlling infections, advanced wound dressing and compression therapy. Specialists also stimulate the growth of news cells through bio-engineered skin grafts and the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. “Each patient and wound is different, so we take a very individualized approach,” Dr. Jaffer says.

At the Wound Care Center, patients benefit from working with a variety of specialists, including infectious disease physicians, wound care specialists, podiatrists and general and plastic surgeons. “We continuously work with patients’ primary care physicians to maximize wound management by treating the wound and controlling any underlying medical conditions,” Dr. Jaffer says.

If you have a wound that won’t heal on its own, call 866-533-7968.