What are the best ways to treat bedsores?

Everyone: Please do not attempt to treat wounds without medical advice. The wound should be evaluated by a wound clinic or by as wound nurse. They will decide what type of treatment is needed for the stage of the wound. It is very important to use the right treatment or you may do more harm than good. These wounds can get so bad they can be life threatening.

Update WillieJoe, I posted earlier. My GMA hasn't eaten in 2 days, has been "prescribed" morphine, laying in "hospice" tonight. A little while ago, I "sensed" my Grandpa, who died many years back. I think he's come to take her with him.

One year ago, this pressure sore was pink, the size of a dime. Now it's taking her life.

Serious stuff. Stay on it like you are. They seem so innocent at first, but they just are not. GMA had no other health issues, not diabetic, was active, etc., etc. Bless you for looking for help early. Wish my Aunt had.

If the wound is deep you cannot wash it with soap and water, nor use certain topicals in it like Neosporin not designed for deep wounds. That will only work if it is a surface wound. Alot of these wounds tunnel several centimeters deep into the body and you can only determine how deep it is with a sterile q-tip like swab. The wounds are often bigger inside the body than the outside shows. Using saline to wash out the wound is best, and pack it with saline soaked sterile gauze. I use colloidal silver spray in the wound to prevent infection. Some people pack the wounds with Mesalt and saline.

Wound care is a medical specialty. Make sure you have a proper diagnosis before slathering open skin with products that may cause more harm.

make sure you check if the ointment is to be applied tom open wounds...if not may do more harm than good... Prevention is the best.

I'd get a doctor's opinion for best treatment based on seriousness and location. That said, doctors sometimes prescribe an ointment that is actually referred to on the scrip and at the pharmacy as "butt paste". It is compounded from three ingredients and it works very well. The important thing is to keep using it in the area after healing has occurred to avoid recurrence.

If the person sits up during the day I have heard that a pillow type seat cushion that has a cutout in the tailbone area can be useful. Hope you find something that works out.

I'd get a doctor's opinion for best treatment based on seriousness and location. That said, doctors sometimes prescribe an ointment that is actually referred to on the scrip and at the pharmacy as "butt paste". It is compounded from three ingredients and it works very well. The important thing is to keep using it in the area after healing has occurred to avoid recurrence.

If the person sits up during the day I have heard that a pillow type seat cushion that has a cutout in the tailbone area can be useful. Hope you find something that works out.

I have attended a few workshops with a wonderful geriatrician by the name of D. Hoeffer, in San Diego. He's one of the scholars that started the diagnosis of Geriatric Frailty Syndrome which you can research online. I recall him saying that if a patient is bed-ridden, or inactive, feeding them a lot of proteins (Ensure drinks for example) especially when they have low appetites, is not good for bed sores. In fact, too high proteins will break down the skin.

Wash gently with plain soap and water every 4 hous and apply Neosporin. The rolling every few hours is equally important.

omg... so sad, patients in care centers get such severe bed sores!! i think we should check out our parents or loved ones bodies, when we visit!! not hard to do.

I used pillows to take the pressure off of my fathers bed sores and I rubbed coconut oil on thesores in the morning and evening. They healed up fast. The difficulty I had was getting him to roll over to take the weight off of them. Once I got him positioned, he would roll right back on the bed sores, so then I kept changing the position of the pillow, that seemed to help the most.

my mother got a bed sore...I didn't realize that sitting and laying down on your back were the same position that caused the bed sore. anyway...we got the medication for that spot just above her but. we kept that area clean and medicated...and rotated her every two hours during the day...and every 3 or four hours in evening. it went away in about 5 days. Now we rotate her all day...it's really easy to do...one side to the other...just a few hours on her back...than at night she does sleep about 12 hours...and no problem...no bed sores...just keep rotating her during the day. oh when she's on her side...put a pillow between her knees. also, if her heals are getting soft...put vaseline on them and elevate her feet with a pillow. it's really not hard to do...

Katie...I feel your disgust having gone thru this wife my wife. She had a stage 5 that I wasn't informed about until she transferred hospitals After all the dead skin was removed it was the size of a softball and you could actually see the tail-bone. She also had Osteo and IV anitbiotics which also ended up causing C-diff. The biggest help to healing was a wound vac,and a heavy protein diet along with daily care in the hospital by a wound specialist. What an incredible mess they put this poor girl through who comes out of a 6 week coma after the accident to learn she will be paralyzed for the rest of life with a C7 SCI and now can't even sit in a chair until this gets healed. I did that whole Medicare rating thing and even a formal complaint and what a pathetic waste of time that was. By the time they assigned an investigator (8 months!!), the people who needed to be interviewed had left the facility and they couldn't find anything in her records that mentioned the sore. You read that right....since nobody "documented" the stages and they claimed to have followed proper procedure of turning every (2) hours than they couldn't legally prove fault and cause of action!!.
My advice....don't waste your time with that BS rating system and their oversight. The real irony here is that her injury was severe enough to have a personal case manager assigned to review and watch over her care and I know now that this should have been something high on their list of things to look after.
My advice is to learn as much as you can to be the biggest advocate and voice in making sure your loved one is properly taken care of.

Katie, please write a letter to Medicare and alert them of what happened to your mom. You have all the documentation needed. Her hospital papers, her release, the nurse, etc... Document and send it to them. Medicare sends a monthly billing report. Check the back for whom to call or send it to. If you don't alert them, they won't know that the facility has been slacking. When you write to Medicare, also keep a copy for yourself.

My Mom's wound occurred in a 5 star Medicare rated nursing facility where she went for rehab from a broken arm last year. They did not tell me about the wound...only when she was admitted to the hospital with delirium from a UTI did the intake nurse there ask me if I had seen the wound....I was shocked to see it as the facility never told me about it and it was a stage 4. I never sent Mom back to this place with the fancy chandeliers and bragging about gourmet food etc.
I called the head nurse at this NH and basically dressed her down and told her that I don't know how she could live with herself or look in the mirror every day for the rest of her life knowing she caused a human being so much pain. Mom's wound progressed to osteomyelitis and required 6 weeks of IV antibiotic in a hospital. I do not believe for one minute that all facilities are caring and will do all they can to prevent bedsores. This is why she came home to be in my care with a nurse, and the wound is a bit better. I also will never believe those Medicare ratings anymore.

Hydrogel pads are the best thing to put on a bedsore. They prevent a starting one from getting worse, and allow them to heal.

The inflating/pulsing mattresses are so effective that Medicare now considers bedsores 100% preventable,and WILL NOT PAY an institution for the treatment of bedsores aquirred during the stay --the institution must pay out of their own pocket for the treatment of them.
Do you think institutions have suddenly become much, much more diligent about preventing bedsores? Why yes they have!
They are suddenly AMAZINGLY alert and attentive! They go to extraordinary lengths and check incoming patients practically with a magnifying glass and document the tiniest hints of a bedsore on any incoming patient. Virtually all hospitals now have rather expensive (but effective) beds.

Get it taken care of before it manifests itself into something worse.

Yes, an air mattress and turning.

@ Katie. sounds good...I worked in a SNF for 25 years and we had more than our share of bedsores...I was going by our protocol.Guess there are many ideas out there and whatever works is fine.

I like to use the powdered protein called Swanson Pea Protein Powder...it is 100% organic and can be purchased online.It does not need a prescription...I use it in my Mom's pudding or milk. Sometimes for a boost I get those protein bars at the regular grocery store and give her a half of one too...she likes the white chocolate or peanut butter chocolate.

Prevention is the best cure!! However, bedsores do happen. If you do not have a skilled RN coming in to do wound care, you need to advise Dr. and he can order this. Turning and repositioning are very important. The proper treatment will depend on the stage of the wound. Protein is essential for healing and vitamin C and zinc by mouth are beneficial. There is this powder called Promod that can be added to a beverage and it provides protein. It might be an Rx.~Not sure...Hope this helps!

Go to doctor hire a nurse and others to roll him get a lambskin to layon rolling is important make sure his sheets are as high a thead count as you can get soft sheets less rubbing and ck every day for sores infection sets in fast if you see call doctor for his advice

They used an inflatable mattress under my dad at his nursing home. Separate baffles in the mattress inflate at different times to relieve pressure on his backside and he never got bedsores again. Of course this mattress was only provided to him AFTER I threatened to report the nursing home to the state for neglect of care because he got a bedsore!

The patient has to be turned from side to side if lying horizontally every two hours, but more when decubitus (bed sores) are present. The weight of the body is the issue here and needs constant attention. This should not happen.

Be super careful. My GMA is in hospice over a pressure sore on her heal. The infection was not treated properly, and it went to the leg bone. Mayo said if the limb wasn't removed she would die. She chose not to have the leg amputation at 90 years old. You are smart to be on this and studying.

Freqflyer gave you a good advice about doing a search with regards to your question on bedsores. My mom got a really bad one from her 1 month stay at the hospital. Before and after that, she had mostly bad rashes - due to heat or fungus. Beginnings of bedsores can be seen in her buttock area - which dad & I aggressively attacked it. So, whenever I find topics that I know I might need in the future, I keep notes on it.

Two of my favorite bedsore discussions are below.

1. The stages of the bedsore (which I never knew about that) and how one caregiver dealt with it.
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/bed-sores-nursing-home-denies-169858.htm?cpage=2

2. A much longer discussion which I found lots of new advice.
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/mom-started-developing-bedsores-175233.htm?cpage=1

What Katie222 mentioned about protein was on the nail. I never knew about that until my dad had a bedsore that Bleeds - as in rolling out of his bedsore and down his body. (Mom's bedsore was going in deep fast towards the bone,but no running blood.) The wound care nurse told us that it's important that we increase his protein intake to help his body heal faster.

But if you need a more specific answer, just go to the top right and search for more answers.

A wet to dry dressing is best. The most important thing is keep pressure off of it. It it is on the back, place a pillow behind the patient to take pressure off of the wound. Or use pillows to float the heels or elbows if the wound is there. Reposition the patient every couple hours to prevent sores. If you can find any dressings with silver or colloidal silver in them that helps prevent infection. Also, make sure the patient gets protein to help heal or at least make sure the wound does not get worse. Peanut butter, eggs, Ensure, Glucerna, anything with lots of protein helps heal.

There are a lot of good articles here on the Aging Care website. I came across this one regarding bedsores... hope it is helpful.

https://www.agingcare.com/articles/treatments-bed-sores-pressure-sores-shingles-skin-cancer-146550.htm