What are the Different Types of Wound Healing?
By admin
Wound healing is crucial for the body’s recovery process. Healing a wound quickly and efficiently helps to restore the protective skin barrier, leaving patients with a lower risk of infection. There are three categories of wound healing: primary, secondary, and tertiary intention. Understanding which category of healing is best for different types of wounds is essential when creating a wound care plan.
Midjourney prompt: ‘A detailed illustration of different types of wound healing: primary intention, secondary intention, and tertiary intention, with labeled stages of healing, medical infographic style’
What are the Different Types of Wound Healing Categories?
Primary Intention Healing
Healing by primary intention refers to the wound edges being brought together using staples, stitches, or surgical glue to close the wound. This will be performed by a doctor or healthcare professional. Closing a wound in this way offers multiple benefits including a lower chance of infection, quicker healing times, and minimal scarring.
- Clean wounds/clean-contaminated wounds
- Wounds with little to no tissue loss
- Wounds that can be closed without tension (further skin damage)
Midjourney prompt: ‘A diagram of primary intention healing, showing wound edges being closed with surgical stitches, clean and labeled, medical illustration’
Secondary Intention Healing
Healing by secondary intention refers to when a wound cannot be stitched or stapled, causing a large amount of tissue loss in the wound. Secondary intention healing relies more on the body’s natural healing abilities to protect a wound from infection.
- Contaminated/dirty/infected wounds
- Wounds that cannot be closed without tension (further damage to the skin)
- Wounds that are at risk of infection from a stitching/stapling procedure
- Irregularly shaped wounds
Tertiary Intention Healing
Tertiary intention healing is sometimes called delayed primary intention and is used when there needs to be a delay in the closure of a wound. These wounds should be debrided (necrotic/dead tissue is removed from the wound) as soon as granulation tissue is present in the wound.
- Wounds that need time to release drainage
- Wounds that have become infected during the process of secondary intention healing
- Wounds that need to clear infection from the wound bed
Midjourney prompt: ‘Tertiary intention healing of a wound, delayed closure with granulation tissue, medical illustration, highly detailed’
Different Types of Wounds
In order to understand the different types of wound healing, it’s important to remember that different wound types require different wound care approaches.
The Main Types of Wounds are:
- Ulcers: Skin sores that take a long time to heal, usually caused by poor circulation.
- Abrasions: A superficial rub or wearing down of the skin caused by scrapes, burns, or friction.
- Burns: Injuries to the skin caused by heat. Depending on the severity, burns can be minor wounds or chronic.
- Lacerations: Wounds produced by the tearing of soft body tissue, which can become infected with bacteria usually from the object that caused the cut.
Midjourney prompt: ‘Medical illustration of different types of wounds: ulcers, abrasions, burns, lacerations, highly detailed with labels’
The Four Phases of Wound Healing
All wounds undergo various stages of healing starting from the initial reaction to the eventual formation of new skin. Whether a wound is healed by primary or secondary intention, there are four main phases of healing:
- Hemostasis Phase: Blood vessels constrict, and the body forms a blood clotting action at the wound opening to stop excess blood loss.
- Inflammatory Phase: The body has a cellular inflammatory response, which acts to remove cell debris and pathogens present in the wound, cleaning the wound bed ready for new tissue to grow.
- Proliferative Phase: Slow tissue re-growth occurs in the wound, and new tissue starts growing, closing the wound fully by epithelial cells.
- Remodeling Phase: The longest phase, in which the new tissue strengthens, restoring the skin to pre-injury.
Midjourney prompt: ‘Illustration showing the four phases of wound healing: hemostasis, inflammatory, proliferative, and remodeling phases, labeled and informative’
When to Use Hydrofera Blue® Dressings in Wound Healing
Hydrofera Blue dressings can be used in all phases of the healing process. Their unique polyurethane foam enables autolytic debridement in open wounds and quickens patient healing times. From dressings that remove debris from the wound bed to dressings that have a wear time of up to 7 days while keeping the wound moist, Hydrofera Blue has a dressing that meets your patient’s wound care needs.
- Hydrofera Blue CLASSIC
- Hydrofera Blue READY
- Hydrofera Blue READY – Transfer
- Hydrofera Blue READY – Border
Want to learn more about wound care? Discover the benefits of methylene blue in wound healing and how to choose the right dressing for your wound.