What do wounds weep

Home Skin. Wounds - how to care for them. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page.

Causes of chronic wounds The healing process Barriers to wound healing Diagnosis methods Treatment options Self-care suggestions See your doctor Where to get help. A skin wound that doesn't heal, heals slowly or heals but tends to recur is known as a chronic wound. Some of the many causes of chronic ongoing skin wounds can include trauma, burns, skin cancers, infection or underlying medical conditions such as diabetes. Wounds that take a long time to heal need special care.

Causes of chronic wounds Some of the many causes of a chronic skin wound can include: Being immobile pressure injuries or bed sores , where persistent localised pressure restricts blood flow Significant trauma injury to the skin Surgery — incisions cuts made during operations may become infected and slow to heal Deep burns Underlying medical conditions such as diabetes or some types of vascular disease Specific types of infection such as the Bairnsdale or Buruli ulcers Mycobacterium ulcerans Trophic ulcers, where a lack of sensation allows everyday trauma to lead to an ulcer — such as in diabetic neuropathy and leprosy.

The healing process The healing process of a skin wound follows a predictable pattern. A wound may fail to heal if one or more of the healing stages are interrupted. The normal wound healing stages include: Inflammatory stage — blood vessels at the site constrict tighten to prevent blood loss and platelets special clotting cells gather to build a clot.

Once the clot is completed, blood vessels expand to allow maximum blood flow to the wound. This is why a healing wound at first feels warm and looks red. White blood cells flood the area to destroy microbes and other foreign bodies. Skin cells multiply and grow across the wound. Fibroblastic stage — collagen, the protein fibre that gives skin its strength, starts to grow within the wound. The growth of collagen encourages the edges of the wound to shrink together and close.

Small blood vessels capillaries form at the site to service the new skin with blood. Maturation stage — the body constantly adds more collagen and refines the wounded area.

This may take months or even years. This is why scars tend to fade with time and why we must take care of wounds for some time after they have healed. Barriers to wound healing Factors that can slow the wound healing process include: Dead skin necrosis — dead skin and foreign materials interfere with the healing process.

Infection — an open wound may develop a bacterial infection. The body fights the infection rather than healing the wound. Haemorrhage — persistent bleeding will keep the wound margins apart. Mechanical damage — for example, a person who is immobile is at risk of bedsores because of constant pressure and friction. Diet — poor food choices may deprive the body of the nutrients it needs to heal the wound, such as vitamin C, zinc and protein. Medical conditions — such as diabetes, anaemia and some vascular diseases that restrict blood flow to the area, or any disorder that hinders the immune system.

Age — wounds tend to take longer to heal in elderly people. Medicines — certain drugs or treatments used in the management of some medical conditions may interfere with the body's healing process. Smoking — cigarette smoking impairs healing and increases the risk of complications. Varicose veins — restricted blood flow and swelling can lead to skin break down and persistent ulceration.

Dryness — wounds such as leg ulcers that are exposed to the air are less likely to heal. The various cells involved in healing, such as skin cells and immune cells, need a moist environment. Diagnosis methods The cause of the chronic wound must be identified so that the underlying factors can be controlled.

For example, if a leg or foot ulcer is caused by diabetes, your doctor will review the control of your blood sugar levels and may recommend that you see a podiatrist to prevent recurring ulcers in future.

Keep reading to learn more about serosanguinous drainage, as well as what the other types of wound drainage look like. Serosanguinous drainage is thin, like water. It usually has a light red or pink tinge, though it may look clear in some cases.

Its appearance depends on how much clotted red blood is mixed with serum. A wound draining fluid with both serum and red blood cells — serosanguinous drainage — could mean that capillaries have been damaged. Capillaries are the smallest blood vessels in your body. Capillaries close to the surface of the skin can be easily injured when the dressing on a wound is changed. That means a scrape or wound with a larger surface area may be especially likely to produce serosanguinous drainage.

This is typical when the wound is healing, but the inflammation around the injury is still high. A small amount of serous drainage is normal.

Excessive serous fluid could be a sign of too much unhealthy bacteria on the surface of the wound. Serum or blood-tinged serum are normal types of drainage from a healing wound. If your wound is showing signs of abnormal drainage, see your doctor.

They can determine why this is happening and treat any complications that have developed. Deeper wounds involving thicker layers of tissue are more likely to produce sanguineous drainage, or thicker red blood. This typically occurs shortly after the wound has formed. If red blood is still draining after several days, it may indicate that there has been further damage to the wound.

If sanguineous drainage continues to flow, it may actually be a sign of hemorrhage. If the blood is bright red and spurting, it may mean that an artery wall has ruptured. If the blood is dark red and steadily flowing, it may mean a vein has ruptured. If the wound is small or shallow, applying direct pressure with a clean cloth or sterile bandage may be enough to stop the bleeding. After the bleeding has stopped, you should clean the wound, treated it with antibiotic cream, and cover it again.

If the wound is deep or large in surface area, you may need to see your doctor. Wound drainage that has a milky texture and is gray, yellow, or green is known as purulent drainage. It could be a sign of infection. The drainage is thicker because it contains microorganisms, decaying bacteria, and white blood cells that attacked the site of the infection.

It may have a strong smell too. If you see purulent drainage from a wound, see a doctor soon. Sometimes serous drainage is also tinged with a milky, off-color fluid.

That is helping clean out the wound. Macrophages also produce chemical messengers, called growth factors, which help repair the wound. Growth and rebuilding. Blood cells, including oxygen-rich red blood cells, arrive to help build new tissue. Chemical signals instruct cells to create collagen, which serves as a type of scaffolding, and other tissues to begin the repair process. Occasionally, you see the result of this process as a scar that starts out red and eventually dulls.

Over time, the new tissue gets stronger. You might notice stretching, itching, and even puckering of the wound as that happens.

Within 3 months, the wound is almost as strong in its repair as it was before the trauma. The entire healing process might take a couple of years to complete. The process seems simple enough, but wound healing is actually quite complicated and involves a long series of chemical signals. Certain factors can slow or prevent healing entirely.