Nonhealing wounds occur due to "tissue hypoxia", i.e., a lack of healing oxygen to the area. This is common in diabetics and in people who are bed-ridden, but could happen in anyone with compromised blood flow (blood carries oxygen to a wound for healing but also carries dead cells away from the wound). A compromised blood flood would be due to a narrowing of the vessels that carry blood as in cardiovascular diseases. Diabetics in particular often suffer from nonhealing wounds in the extremities, especially the feet. The further away a wound is from the heart in someone with compromised blood flow, the more difficult the healing process

A non-healing wound is defined as any wound which refuses to heal within a reasonable period of time by use of "typical" methods, like debridment, dressings and antibiotics. Anyone with a non-healing wound is painfully aware of what would have been the reasonable time in which the wound should have healed.

Lack of oxygen (anoxia) to a wound will lead to the accumulation of toxic substances like ammonia. It is toxic substances that then causes swelling of cells and further impairment of healing. Without oxygen and with toxic substances being generated, the wound becomes highly susceptible to infection which, of course, further interferes with healing. The common denominator of wounds that won't heal is hypoxia.

Hypoxia in wound healing can be corrected by the administration of oxygen under pressure (100% oxygen at 2.5 ATA). These high pressures are needed to oxygenate the hypoxic center of the nonhealing wound (Pathophysiology of nonhealing wounds, Textbook of Hyperbaric Medicine, K.K. Jain, Pg. 147-166).

At Dr. Steenblock's Clinic we see healing in longstanding wounds that have failed to respond to debridment, dressings and antibiotics alone. In addition to the treatment you are already getting, we recommend a series of treatments with hyperbaric oxygen as appropriate. To prevent further wounds, we help patients with nutritional counseling, proper dietary supplements and other therapies as appropriate for the individual.