Cellulitis Ulcer Care 101: From Infection Clearance to Healing

One of the biggest threats for the more than 38 million Americans who have diabetes are diabetic foot ulcers, which develop in about one-third of people with a diabetes diagnosis.  More problematic still are diabetic foot ulcers that become infected, and this happens in half of all cases, so the risk is very high.

When you have diabetes, any foot, ankle, or leg wound is cause for concern and can very much benefit from the specialized wound care that Dr. Thomas Rambacher and the team here at Foot Ankle Leg Wound Care Orange County provide. While the goal is to prevent infection, when a skin infection like cellulitis develops, the next steps are critical.

Why diabetic foot ulcers are so prone to infection

Your skin, which is your body's largest organ, performs one very important function: it forms a barrier between your body and the world. Among the many things that your skin defends against are harmful, infection-causing bacteria.

So, when there’s damage in your skin, your body jumps into action and sends in the resources necessary to stop the bleeding and initiate a healing response that will fight off bacteria and plug the breach.

With Type 2 diabetes, your cells have become resistant to insulin, which is the hormone that delivers blood sugar to your cells for energy. Given this resistance, more blood sugar than is healthy is circulating through your bloodstream with nowhere to go. As a result of these high levels of glucose, your blood vessels can narrow and harden over time, increasingly compromising your body’s ability to circulate blood and oxygen.

Tying these two together, if you have diabetes and develop a foot ulcer, your body struggles to heal and fight infection because not enough oxygen and healing resources are making their way to your wound.

Cellulitis: First stop in the infection cascade

For diabetic foot ulcers that have become infected, the first stage is usually cellulitis, a bacterial infection that occurs in the skin and tissues just below the skin.

Cellulitis is mostly caused by Streptococcus and Staphylococcus bacteria and, left untreated, these infections can grow and lead to bone infections, abscesses, necrotizing fasciitis, and gangrene.

Stopping the infection at cellulitis

As you might imagine, our goal is to stop the infection long before it turns the corner from cellulitis to a far more serious and limb-threatening issue.

So, given that your body struggles to heal and fight infection, we need to create an environment that supports healing. 

First, we make sure that you have the antibiotics you need to fight off the bacteria. From there, we debride the diabetic ulcer, which means removing the tissue that’s affected by cellulitis so there’s less chance of the infection spreading to healthy tissues

Since the ulcer isn’t getting the healing resources it needs from your blood, we typically apply special dressings and prescription wound care products that contain these resources. This type of wound care not only fights infection, but also helps your damaged tissues to repair and regenerate.

These steps are often enough to contain the cellulitis and work best when we can get in there quickly and intervene. 

For prompt and expert care of your diabetic foot ulcer, we invite you to call our office in Mission Viejo, California, at 949-832-6018 or request an appointment online today.