Bedsores

We see bedsores a lot more often than we would like. Most people do not understand what a bedsore is. It’s a physiological response that is similar to a heart attack and a stroke. What happens in a heart attack is that the blood flow to your heart muscle is blocked. Because oxygen is contained within the blood, the flow of oxygen is interrupted to your heart and the heart tissue actually dies. In a stroke sometimes what happens is that the flow of blood to your brain is interrupted and the brain doesn’t get the oxygen level it needs.

Oxygen Deprivation

It is the same thing for a bedsore. What happens when a bedsore occurs is that the flow of oxygen to the skin tissue is interrupted. The skin is fed by capillaries which are very, very small blood vessels. What happens when people develop bedsores is that pressure on the skin depresses the capillary and makes it impossible for the blood to flow through. That means that the oxygen doesn’t go through the capillary, the skin doesn’t get the oxygen it needs and the skin tissue dies.

Bedsore Stages

Serious sores can open little-by-little as the skin dies. The first stage is a red area on the skin. The second stage is an open wound which is very shallow. In the third stage there is a full thickness loss of skin. And then in stage 4, bedsores can become horrendous, very deep and very dangerous.