Wound Care in Las Vegas, Nevada

The Valley Health System provides advanced care to treat many types of wounds (any type of break in the skin). Some minor wounds heal on their own with a bandage and a little patience. But those that don't heal normally require specialized and aggressive medical treatment. A wound is considered a non-healing wound if it doesn’t improve after four weeks or does not heal within eight weeks.

Non-healing wounds can cause deeper skin erosion, infection and complications which can be damaging to organs and limbs. They can even be life threatening, especially for those with diabetes and heart conditions. 

Non-healing wounds are caused by a wide variety of conditions, including:

• Diabetes
• Pressure ulcers (often caused by arthritis)
• Blood flow problems
• Traumatic injuries
• Surgical incisions
• Compromised skin grafts

Wound Care Therapies

The Valley Health System offers a wide variety of therapies to treat wounds including:

• Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
• Aggressive wound care therapy
• Debridement
• Specialty dressings
• Compression therapy
• Growth factors
• Bio-engineered tissue products

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a procedure in which patients breathe 100 percent oxygen at pressures two to three times greater than the atmosphere's normal pressure. This dissolves more oxygen in the patient's bloodstream. Hyperbaric oxygen treatments are normally painless and the average session lasts about two hours.

Conditions that respond most favorably to HBOT are:

• Bone infections that do not respond to standard treatment
• Crush injuries and reattachment of severed limbs
• Deep tissue injury from radiation therapy
• Peripheral artery disease
• Skin grafts or flaps that are not healing

During HBOT, the patient's body absorbs 10-20 times more oxygen than it would normally absorb. This causes oxygen-rich blood to flow to the wound site, speeding the wound healing process. This leads to a number of benefits, including:

• A decrease in localized swelling
• The formation of new micro blood vessels
• Increased protection against infection
• Decreased effects from harmful or toxic substances in the body
• Enhanced wound healing

Limb Salvage Program

The Limb Salvage Program aims to heal conditions affecting the legs, feet and toes. It focuses on prevention and early intervention to help prevent the loss of limb.

A variety of medical specialists work together to develop a combination of treatments that will improve circulation and promote healing. This includes specialists from wound care, cardiology and podiatry. If amputation is necessary, we try to limit its scope and severity. We also connect patients with additional resources for rehabilitation and therapy.

Candidates for Wound Care

Our wound care or hyperbaric oxygen therapy services may help you if:

• You have a wound that hasn't healed in 30 days, especially if you have diabetes
• You have a sore with increasing pain, redness, swelling, foul odor or a change in color
• You have a surgical wound that has become infected