Wound debridements/skin grafts
A chronic wound sometimes gets lazy and does not want to heal because it becomes dormant. Scraping the wound, aka debridement, down to healthy, bleeding tissue is a form of active wound management that allows the wound to stay “awake”. This allows the skin edges to realize that there is still healing that needs to be done in order for the wound to continue to heal. Sometimes a wound has dead, nonviable tissue within the wound bed that needs to be excised. This is also done by scraping or debriding the wound.
When a wound has gotten to the point where there is only skin that needs to fill in, but it is not progressing, a skin graft may be an option. In a skin graft, a partial layer of skin is removed from one area of the body (usually the thigh) and placed over the wound. This ultimately will heal over as new skin. Many times, skin grafts are not necessary, and with quality wound care and serial debridement, a wound will close on its own.
Wound debridement is usually performed in the office. It usually does not require any special numbing medication injection. If a skin graft is going to be performed, it will take place in the operating room, however, as an outpatient procedure.
