Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine
Request an Appointment
See a Provider
Related Care Providers
Find a Team
Related Care Locations
Find a Location
Crozer Health offers wound healing and hyperbaric medicine services that has an advanced, multidisciplinary approach to healing chronic wounds associated with diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, autoimmune disease, and other conditions.
Our multidisciplinary teams of wound care and hyperbaric medicine specialists provide individual evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment for each patient, as well as education to enhance the treatment outcome and prevent recurrence. The team includes vascular surgeons, plastic surgeons, podiatrists, and associated healthcare professionals to provide a full range of wound care services.
What is Wound Care?
Estimates say that nearly 7 million Americans suffer from chronic wounds associated with conditions such as diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, and autoimmune disease. Clinicians who are specially trained in wound care can help speed up the healing process, prevent recurrence and improve quality of life.
Comprehensive wound care can help patients who have the following conditions:
- Diabetic Wounds
- Pressure Ulcers
- Venous Stasis Ulcers
- Arterial Ulcers
- Vasculitic Ulcers
- Non-Healing Surgical Wounds
- Complex Soft Tissue Wounds
- Traumatic Wounds
- Infected Wounds
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a non-invasive treatment for chronic wounds. The patient lies on a comfortable mattress inside a pressurized chamber, relaxes and breathes 100 percent oxygen that dissolves in the blood. This allows blood to carry more oxygen to organs and tissues to stimulate the healing process. A treatment session lasts approximately two hours. HBOT is a safe procedure with few side effect —the most common are fatigue, lightheadedness and headache.
People who may benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy include those with the following conditions:
- Diabetic Foot Ulcers
- Refractory Osteomyelitis
- Osteoradionecrosis
- Compromised Skin Graft/Flap
- Actinomycosis
- Necrotizing Infections
- Clostridial Myonecrosis
- Non-Healing Ulcers due to Arterial Insufficiency
- Acute Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
- Gas Embolism
Crozer Health offers outpatient services for patients with ostomy management and skin issues. A team of specially-trained wound, ostomy, continence (WOC) nurses assists patients in need of specialized care for stoma and peristomal complications and product concerns.
Clinical services include:
- Feeding tube skincare concerns
- Fistula pouching
- Special attention to pouching problems
- Ongoing support to introduce new products for changing needs
- Preoperative patient education in ostomy care
- Special care related to skin issues
What's an Ostomy?
An ostomy is a surgical procedure that connects an area inside the body to the outside. Most often, an ostomy involves part of the bowel or bladder. This connection creates an opening in the skin called a stoma. An ostomy allows stool or urine to be excreted outside the body after digestive or urinary problem requires the surgery.
Ostomies are performed on the large or small intestine or urinary tract. After surgery, stools or urine drain into an odor-proof pouch attached with adhesive to the skin around the ostomy.
It is important to have someone who specializes in ostomy treatment care for patients who undergo an ostomy and to teach them what they need to know. Optimal care and management for ostomy patients can lead to better medical outcomes, faster recovery and a return to normal activities.