Wounds caused by incisions made during surgery can progress to chronic wounds if the blood supply to the surgery area was accidentally damaged, or if wound care is inadequate. If you have a wound that simply refuses to heal, you may need wound care management.

Non-healing surgical wound symptoms

• Redness around the wound
• The skin around the wound is hot to the touch
• Drainage that is butty, discolored or foul smelling
• Swelling
• Fever
• Increased pain to the area
• The wound is larger or deeper

Managing non-healing surgical wounds

• Analgesia. Using topical anesthesia before a dressing change can help a patient tolerate the sometimes grueling procedure. A more invasive anesthesia-based choice is undergoing a regional or epidural nerve block or a lumbar sympathectomy to control chronic and debilitating wound pain.

• Non-pharmaceutical interventions. Other non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical pain control options include: transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), ultrasound therapy and pulsed radio frequency energy (PRFE). These modalities work either by stimulating tissue and reducing the pain.

• Dressing change procedures. Involving the patient in pain control choices and actual dressing change procedures can help allay anxiety and actually aid in the healing process. A simple distraction like listening to music can sometimes be enough to carry the patient comfortably through a dressing change. Working to develop a combination of pain relief treatments to accommodate a patient's pain before beginning a dressing change will dramatically increase the overall experience and effectiveness of the healing process.

• Infection Control. Preventing and controlling wound infection is critical. An infected wound dramatically increases the intensity of wound pain. Antimicrobial and antibiotic therapies can be effective for reducing infection and associated pain. Intravenous or oral antibiotic may be prescribed.