Bed sores, also known as pressure sores or ulcers, emerge due to extended pressure, such as lying or sitting in the same position for a long time. Here are ways senior living in Huntersville, NC help older adults treat and prevent bed sores.
Frequent Repositioning
The best-proven method to heal and prevent bed sores is to shift your older loved one’s body about. Shifting the body around every 2 to 3 hours greatly relieves pressure on those bonier sections and boosts circulation. Bedsores can happen when a person is bedridden, immobile, or unconscious.
Special mattresses or toppers with moving airflow can perform this function for you. For regular mattresses and chairs, physically repositioning them with pillows may work. Memory foam, gel pillows, or mattress toppers may help, but more is needed for frequent repositioning.
Managing Incontinence
Good incontinence hygiene can make a difference between broken skin and healthy skin.
Over every brief incontinence change, wash, dry out, or apply creams, ointments, or gels to stop the skin from damp, moistening, and splitting up.
Keeping the sacral section (above the tailbone) washed and dried helps to keep contaminants away from sensitive skin and stops bacteria from forming in sores.
Taking tissue-building foods like citrus fruits, fatty fish, broccoli, cauliflower, quinoa, flax seeds, and nuts may provide your elderly loved one the nutrients their body requires to build up skin and repair tissue.
Staying well hydrated also helps to enable good blood circulation, which can stop tissue damage. You may also make eating more accessible with an overbed table that reaches right up to your older adult’s bed or stool.
Two Primary Bed Sore Treatments
Based on the size or stage of the bed sore, your older adult’s doctor may prescribe a treatment or tell them to see a wound care specialist to formulate a personalized treatment to prevent the sore from developing and cure the skin damage. They might then ensure you get educated on how to look after the wound.
When you are assisting with treating and healing a bed sore, close monitoring is needed. These sores can progress quickly from one stage to the next in a short time,
There are two ways to treat bed sores.
Creams, Barrier Ointments, or Gels
For stage 1 or to cure bed sores, rubbing on barrier creams may prevent skin from getting damaged.
Moisture from urine, sweat, or more contaminants can render the skin more vulnerable to breaking or splitting. Barrier creams shield from these contaminants and strengthen vulnerable skin.
Wound Dressings
Stage II bedsores and above have skin damage and need more heavy wound dressings.
These range from breathable gauze pads to treated silicone padding with foam, adhesive barriers, and hydrocolloid dressings. Materials like silver and calcium alginate help treat wounds and can be applied with dressings.
A home health nurse or medical professional will educate you on ways to treat the bed sore and renew dressings. Training is vital as treating bedsores without it may be hazardous.
For example, a stage 2 bedsore might need barrier ointment or silicone dressing. But a stage 3 bedsore may need debridement or taking out necrotic tissue that may cause life-threatening bacterial spread.
Final Considerations
Bedsores are not too complex for caregivers to manage. With immediate treatment from the medical team and therapeutic actions, including staying hydrated, repositioning, and keeping a moderate weight, your loved one may be bedsore-free for long periods.
Though sores might seem harmless from the start, bed sores can rapidly grow into life-threatening tissue infections and decay.
