Bedsores - Any tips and tricks?

BACKGROUND:
Fly maggots have been known for centuries to help debride and heal wounds. Maggot therapy was first introduced in the USA in 1931 and was routinely used there until the mid-1940s in over 300 hospitals. With the advent of antimicrobiols, maggot therapy became rare until the early 1990s, when it was re-introduced in the USA, UK, and Israel. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of maggot therapy for the treatment of intractable, chronic wounds and ulcers in long-term hospitalized patients in Israel.
METHODS:
Twenty-five patients, suffering mostly from chronic leg ulcers and pressure sores in the lower sacral area, were treated in an open study using maggots of the green bottle fly, Phaenicia sericata. The wounds had been present for 1-90 months before maggot therapy was applied. Thirty-five wounds were located on the foot or calf of the patients, one on the thumb, while the pressure sores were on the lower back. Sterile maggots (50-1000) were administered to the wound two to five times weekly and replaced every 1-2 days. Hospitalized patients were treated in five departments of the Hadassah Hospital, two geriatric hospitals, and one outpatient clinic in Jerusalem. The underlying diseases or the causes of the development of wounds were venous stasis (12), paraplegia (5), hemiplegia (2), Birger's disease (1), lymphostasis (1), thalassemia (1), polycythemia (1), dementia (1), and basal cell carcinoma (1). Subjects were examined daily or every second day until complete debridement of the wound was noted.
RESULTS:
Complete debridement was achieved in 38 wounds (88.4%); in three wounds (7%), the debridement was significant, in one (2.3%) partial, and one wound (2.3%) remained unchanged. In five patients who were referred for amputation of the leg, the extremities was salvaged after maggot therapy.
CONCLUSIONS:
Maggot therapy is a relatively rapid and effective treatment, particularly in large necrotic wounds requiring debridement and resistant to conventional treatment and conservative surgical intervention.

You won't believe this, but IT WORKS: put maggots (!) directly on the wound and leave them eat away all that dead flesh. Nothing else does as good a job.

This is a hospital remedy in New Orleans. Sounds awful, but it does a good job! Even your MD will need to research this! persist for good job.

A simple AND effective, low cost home remedy is to mix Betadine and Milk of Magnesia equals parts and apply as often as needed. It will dry up the area and start the healing process. My sister who is a private care giver has used this often in the past and we used it on our mother. It works! The hospice RN was pleasantly surprised to see how effective it is. We tried to get the constantly moving air mattresses for her but all the ones (three) we tried were mal-functioning and pretty worthless. We ended up putting her on a standard air mattress from WalMart and just kept turning her as is mentioned above.
There is a powdered product that you can get online called Decubamine. You add it to their food or smoothies and it also speeds up the healing process. It is expensive but worth it.

THere is an earlier post on this topic about 4 questions up -- so check on those answers too. Suggest contacting wound care center (have dr advise and refer them over if possible) to manage the wound. My FIL has one that won't heal or go away (pressure wound); they have done all the things suggest above and he is under wound care mgt -- after still not healing after several months; they are going to try a "silver nitrate" patch this week. Maybe that is something you can ask the dr about for your father.

Good luck.

Applying Aloe Vera gel straight from the plant! It heals just about any sore or burn and once the gel is dry, it forms it's own seal. If you aren't in an area having access to a living plant, purchase only 100% pure aloe gel from health product stores. All the above answers are wonderful. Mine is just an adjunct to the others. Best Wishes!

This pressure sore also known as a decubi needs attention fast as they tend to break down the skin more and more. There can get really nasty and infected. Turning every two hours is standard care for bedridden/chair bound patients, however, I would request the doctor look at it and order more frequent turning, and more antiseptic dressings. These can quickly get out of hand and you need to be vigilant about watching how much they spread. Yes, air would be nice, but when a patient is in a nursing home, unless there is one-on-one private nursing, well, I'm afraid their isn't enough staff to watch it every moment. Speak to the doctor, staff and see what other arrangements can be made for your father-in-law. Best wishes!

My wife has suffered from a pressure sore over 2 years. She went to Wound Care center at two hospitals for treatment. Nothing worked. My wife is paralyzed and in a wheelchair or bed full time. She did all the things asked but it has never healed. We use Mepilex bandages and some fungicide ointment for moisture. Exposing to air had not helped at all. The only advice given is always "just stay off of it" .- hard to do when in a wheelchair. And she cannot lay on her side continuously. She does have an alternating pressure mattress pad that gives her come help. But I really have nothing to suggest that might help. I am sorry about that.

It is important to keep pressure off the sore. There are many kinds of dressings that can be placed on the sore if it is appropriate. They are very expensive. ASK the facility.
It is very important to change positions every 2 hours & to keep the pressure off the sore.
There are several kinds of apparatuses to keep the pressure off the area.
Ask for assistance in the facility.

My wife was under hospice care here at home. the suggestions listed are excellent. but what really solved the bedsore problem was getting one of those mattresses that continually pump air in and out. That way there is no body pressure point always in contact with the mattress

Air and sunshine are good for it. He might get a chuckle out of the sunshine suggestion. A thick piece of sheepskin fur helps too, to take pressure off. He probably can only lie on the unbroken hip, though, so tuck the sheepskin under there to prevent any more.

Someone else may have more specific information, but if a pressure sore is the same as a bed sore, mom had the beginnings of a pressure sore right by her tail bone. She could hardly sit down. The pain was exquisite.

The visiting nurse told us to put liberal...LIBERAL...amounts of Lantiseptic on it. It's an extremely effective moisture barrier. The pain was gone in a couple of days. The sore (it hadn't opened up yet) was gone in a week.

I would call his doctor in a heartbeat to see what he recommends. If he's relying on the doctor at the nursing home, I would want to speak to him personally. (If it's like the nursing home mom was rehabbed in, the nurses try to shield the doctor. But he can't hide from meeee. ;)

I wish you good luck. Pain is a horrible thing to live with and good on you that you are asking questions and watching out for him.