Chronic Wounds: About 1% of people over 60 suffer from chronic skin wounds, such as bed sores and leg ulcers. These are wounds that do not heal in spite of weeks of careful treatment. Even when these wounds are successfully treated, they tend to come back. For the sufferer, it can seem as though there is no escape.

Chronic wounds and skin ulcers tend to afflict people whose mobility is limited, such as the elderly, wheelchair users and those who are bedridden. Health problems like diabetes and poor circulation put relatively immobile people at increased risk of developing chronic wounds.

Acute wounds typically heal in 1-to-3 weeks in a dynamic process that restores the integrity and function of the skin and the underlying tissue. If a wound does not heal in 4-to-12 weeks, it should be considered chronic. Natural healing occurs in clearly defined stages. In the chase of chronic wounds, the wound appears to be stuck at one of the stages and cannot get past it.

Skin Ulcers: A venous skin ulcer, also called a stasis leg ulcer, is a shallow wound that develops when leg veins fail to move blood back toward the heart in the normal way. They can appear on either side of the lower leg, above the ankle or below the calf.

When failing valves in blood vessels allow venous blood to seep back into certain areas of the leg, instead of being returned to the heart, the conditions for leg ulcers are established. The earliest indication of an ulcer will be dark red or purple skin over the affected area. The skin may also become thickened, dry, and itchy. Contacting a doctor at this point could prevent a painful, chronic ulcer from developing.

Without treatment, the patient may develop achy, swollen legs and an ulcer may form. The same circulation problem that caused the ulcer will also make it slow to heal. If it then becomes infected, there may an odour, pus draining from the wound, and increased tenderness and redness.

Typically, a well-established ulcer will be characterized by the loss of the integrity of the skin; secondary infection of the site by bacteria, fungus, or virus; generalized weakness in the patient; and delayed healing.