6 kinds of patients at risk of developing pressure ulcers

We have heard all of our life that a healthy body is always the best body and all of us agree to it too. But do we even know the reason why people say this? The reason is that when a person’s health and body is infected because of a disease so that person doesn’t only face the consequences of the disease but also the other problems that come with the disease. Pressure ulcers are included in those other problems that affect a person along with the disease or a medical condition.

Pressure ulcers are injuries to the skin, and they are formed because of too much pressure on the skin and reduced blood flow. People have this misconception that these are only formed on bedridden patients because of lying on the bed for an unexpected time. This is not the case. Pressure ulcers can be formed in patients other than bedridden patients too. We are here to tell you about the main kinds of patients that can get affected by pressure ulcers along with the medical condition they are going through. Read about them below.

Patients with Neuropathy:
A person with neuropathy is not able to feel pain. Such patients feel numbness and at times cannot even feel their feet when they are moving. Any damage in the nerve of any part of the body can result in this disease that causes sensations in the person’s body. Now, how do pressure ulcers affect such patients? A person not able to feel pain or anything in the part of the body where the nerve is damaged might put out too much stress, pressure, or force on that part as he or she won’t be able to feel anything and this thing results in pressure ulcer being formed there.

Bedridden patients:
These are the kinds of patients that are very common in having pressure ulcers. The main cause of a pressure ulcer is reduced blood flow. A person with reduced or no mobility causes hindrance in the flow of blood, that eventually results in pressure ulcers. A bedridden patient is not able to change positions comfortably and that causes them and their skin to be rubbed against the bed causing skin damage and pressure ulcers. This is a type the majority of the people know.

Patients with skin disease:
Skin disease can be of any type but like all of us knows that skin gets damaged when any person is having any sort of disease related to skin. Skin damages are a major cause of pressure ulcers. There are many skin conditions in which the skin of the patient changes color automatically or becomes dark from any part of the body and this results in the doctor being clueless about what’s happening to the patient’s skin. Any skin disease that is diagnosed at the right time can tell the patient if the ulcer will form on the patient’s body or not.

Diabetic Patients:
Diabetes is a disease in which a person has a higher sugar level than a normal person. Now the question arises how a person having diabetes can develop ulcers? Here is the answer. A patient with diabetes feels very numb and stops feeling any sensation because of that he doesn’t get the idea of pressure that he put on any part of the body that has become numb and that unnecessary pressure on the skin increases the risk of pressure ulcers in a diabetic patient.

Patients of Peripheral arterial disease:
The most common effect of this disease on a person’s body is the reduced blood flow. This disease especially affects the legs. The arteries of the limbs are narrowed in it and because of this the supply of blood in the limbs gets restricted. All of us know that any part of the body where the blood movement is hindered automatically increases the risk of a pressure ulcer being developed on the patient’s skin. The arteries in this disease get very weak and narrow and this thing tells us very straightly that the person is at a major risk of developing an ulcer.

Patients of dementia:
Dementia is a disease in which a person starts having memory loss with a reduction in other mental abilities too. You must be thinking that how dementia is connected to pressure ulcers. Let me tell you then. A patient with dementia starts having changes in the skin tissue by time and these changes result in increasing the risk of pressure ulcers being developed.

These are the 6 kinds of the patients that are at risk of developing pressure ulcers. Despite taking many precautionary measures several pressure ulcer cases are reported in the USA each year. The only reason is that we can only prevent but cannot control.  But with the increased amount of pressure ulcer cases we have also noticed the increase in medical sheepskins that are used in making healing and comfortable products for such patients. So, if a disease or a medical condition exists a treatment for it exists too.