The Link Between Vascular Conditions and Leg Wounds

The human body contains a whopping 60,000 miles of blood vessels that circulate the 5-6 quarts of blood in your body. This system acts as the main supply network that oversees the health of every single cell in your body. So when you have a vascular condition, such as peripheral artery disease (PAD) or diabetes, problems like poor wound healing can develop.

In this blog post, Dr. Thomas Rambacher and the team here at Foot Ankle Leg Wound Care Orange County want to shine the spotlight on the link between vascular conditions and wounds. It’s all well and good to say that poor circulation can lead to slow- or non-healing wounds, but we want to paint a clearer picture about why this happens.

Vascular conditions associated with chronic wounds

First, let’s review a few of the more common vascular conditions that can disrupt the circulation in your lower extremities.

At the head of the list is diabetes, which can damage blood vessels due to high glucose levels in the bloodstream. As a result, about one-third of people with diabetes develop a diabetic foot ulcer.

Next up is peripheral artery disease, which affects 1 in 20 adults over the age of 50 in the United States. With PAD, the arteries that deliver blood to your lower extremities are narrowed because of blockages, a condition that’s called atherosclerosis.

There’s considerable crossover between diabetes and PAD, as about half of people with a diabetic foot ulcer also have PAD.

Last on our list is chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), a condition in which the valves of the veins in your legs weaken and don’t close all the way, allowing blood to pool. As a result, you can develop varicose veins and edema. In severe cases of CVI, ulcers form because of the venous pressure.

This list isn’t comprehensive, but the three conditions we list above account for a majority of chronic foot, ankle, and leg wound issues.

The wound healing process

Now, let’s move over to the importance of healthy circulation when it comes to wound healing so that we can connect the dots between vascular conditions and chronic leg wounds. There are four stages of wound healing, which include:

Stasis — platelets in your blood create a clot to stop the bleeding
Inflammation — blood vessels deliver nutrients and oxygen for healing
Proliferation — red blood cells deliver collagen and cells to help rebuild tissues
Remodeling and maturation — the newly formed tissues strengthen and take on their final form

As you can see, your blood plays a critical role in each stage of the wound healing process. From the moment there’s a breach in your skin, your blood is the first on the scene, directly stopping the bleeding. From there, your blood ferries in much-needed resources, including oxygen, collagen, cells, and growth factors.

Getting more specific, your red blood cells cart in new cells and collagen to rebuild tissues. Your blood also delivers oxygen and immune cells to fight off infection.

It doesn’t only deliver — your blood removes waste products from wounds to fight infection and encourage healing.

Tying this all together, if the blood flow to your lower legs is compromised, your wound healing can get stuck in the inflammatory phase of healing. When this occurs, not only will your wound not heal, it’s wide open to infection that can spread and threaten your entire lower limb.

This is why it’s very important to check your lower limbs daily if you have a vascular condition. The moment you see a wound, sore, or ulcer, we want you to come see us immediately.

If you have more questions about wound healing and vascular conditions or you want us to check out a leg wound, we invite you to contact our office in Mission Viejo, California, at 949-832-6018 or request an appointment online today.