Surgical

By definition, a surgical wound is an incidental wound created as a result of a surgical procedure.  Unlike other incidental wounds, surgical wounds are generally planned.

Depending on the type of surgery, surgical wounds may be relatively minor such as those that result from arthroscopic procedures or more severe and invasive such as the surgeries requiring comprehensive access to chest or abdominal cavities. 

Surgeries are also often associated with existing wound sites such as surgeries designed to amputate the locations of severe and non-responsive wounds on lower limbs or other extremities and surgeries designed to prepare the site of a chronic wound for healing such as in the case of a surgical debridement.

Individuals preparing for surgery should be aware of the potential of AHS’ Wound Care Formulary, which has in multiple documented cases been responsible for preventing amputations that might otherwise been recommended for chronic non-healing wounds. 

Within AHS’ Wound Care Guidelines, surgical debridement is most often not considered a standard of care and as such is only recommended in the most extreme cases. 

Finally, some research has shown that proper application of the technologies contained in AHS’ Wound Care Formulary may help the body to recover from the surgical wound more quickly and may also help prevent infections at the site of the surgery.