Why is my Ulcer Not Healing?

Ulcers can be very finicky things. One week you have had great success and the ulcer has shrunken down dramatically and then next thing you know that ulcer has sprung to life and has doubled in size. There are multiple reasons as to why your ulcer may not be healing and over the next couple of blogs, we are going to discuss some key factors.

The first factor that we are going to talk about is your blood flow. If those pipes are not wide open and clear you may be having issues with blockage. You may be wondering why on Earthy would blood flow affect how my wound is doing? There are a couple of reasons. The first main one is oxygen. Oxygen is incredibly important for energy and vitality of your tissues. If there is a disconnect where your tissues aren't getting enough oxygen, you can actually get an ulcer just from that. This ulceration is called an ischemic ulcer because your tissues will actually die as a result of lack of blood flow and the only real fix for this is to send you to a vascular doctor and see what they can do for you.

The second reason that poor blood flow is a problem is that you will not receive the antibiotics or the nutrients that may be necessary for your wound to heal because if there is no flow transporting these vital substances to your wound then there is effectively a block. It is as if a beaver has built a dam in your transport system and all of the good stuff is being blocked from reaching you.

The reasons for blood flow mentioned above are the same reasons that your podiatrist will check your pulses and may run some diagnostic tests on you to see if there is enough blood flow reaching your tissues. If you have an ulcer it is important that you seek medical help from your podiatrist so that your ulcer can be monitored for other complications such as infection. If you live in the Chatham or Dracut, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your feet. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835