We’ve come a long way in wound care. Soldiers with infected gun shot wounds would often get maggot therapy in an attempt to clean the wound. British doctors would apply crushed marigold flower to get their wound to heal. Across history, there have been many creative attempts to treat an ulcers. Wounds can be debilitating and challenging. Ulcer can alter someone’s quality of life and lead to amputation or even death if not cared for properly. Not all modern medical treatments are created equal and at Align Foot and Ankle, we believe time is of the essence when it comes to wounds. Of the 34 million diabetics in the US, 34 % will develop foot wounds. Despite the use of therapy, those with amputations have a 45% mortality rate in 5 years.
Dr. Barnett has studied and practiced wounds care at the best institutions, including Temple University in Philadelphia, Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Baylor Hospital in Dallas, and Tampa General. This experience has allowed him to understand why wounds don’t seem to heal. Surgical clean up, wound vacs, hyperbaric oxygen, and skin grafting were all standards of care, and still have merit today. But if even those modern techniques aren’t healing your wound, advanced techniques and wound products used at Align Foot and Ankle can make even the toughest wounds close up fast.
Ulcers tend to not heal due to blood flow issues, scar tissue formation, infection, poor walking, deformities, or infection. Traditional techniques are vital, from wound clean up, antibiotics, hyperbaric, circulation evaluation, creams, gels, or even powders can be added to help close a wound. However, often times Dr. Barnett see patients who have exhausted all those traditional methods at a wound center for months or even years with little to no progress. That is where the innovation comes in!
One of the new technologies Dr. Barnett uses is MVASC. It is a disc made up of millions of tiny blood vessels and a super highway of extra cellular matrix. ECM for short, is a complex network in your body that allows blood vessels and cells to communicate. It is a roadmap and building block for good, local blood flow. MVASC comes either in an injectable or a disc to be applied directly to the wound. The graft when added immediately begins to develop a base/foundation for which new blood vessels can form, immune cells can travel, and collagen to get in and start the repair. In the studies performed, 60% increase in blood flow, 118% improvement in neuropathy, and 74% of the most difficult wounds healed at 12 weeks. Covered by many insurers, this is an amazing option that is simply life changing. Dr. Barnett is the first doctor in the region to offer this evidence based breakthrough in wound care.
SKYE Biologics Wound Fix – Another amazing breakthrough in wound technology. With the most meticulous harvesting process, and most pure amniotic tissue, these grafts can be applied to a chronic ulcer and close a wound 75% faster than traditional wound methods. Using every beneficial aspect of the placenta, SKYE grafts are applied in the office and only need one application a week. Dr. Barnett will usually see wound will heal in 3-6 applications.
3D GAIT LAB – Using 3D evaluation, pressure analysis, and 3d imaging, Dr. Barnett can assess every aspect of walking that is causing the wound to not heal, and construct a corrective offloading device to protect the foot. Dr. Barnett can also 3d model design a waterproof cast that can be used in walking. All orthotics and braces are backed by a lifetime warranty.
Ulcers are troubling medical conditions that change people’s lives and alter their path, but they don’t have to! When a doctor can find the problem, address the root cause, and offer immediate and aggressive options, wounds don’t have to be more than a little bump in the road of life.
