How quickly do pressure sores develop?

My Dad had pressure sores on both heels and even though they were treated by Home Health pros, one of them became infected and landed him in the hospital.  These can develop in a matter of days and can take months to heal.  Don't wait - get care now.  Blessings and hugs ….

My Dad went into rehab with pressure points on his heels. Within 4 days they had become blisters wit tissue already dying. If he is on homecare or hospice ask for a woundcare nurse. These soars can get infected fast.

As your father had already been prescribed an air mattress I presume his skin is very fragile. And that being so, then yes I am afraid a pressure sore could develop so fast it's unbelievable. Truly, by the time I had gone through the checking routine, from toes to ears, a toe that was fine when I'd begun had started to go purply red and then that foot had to be adjusted. It's a *heck* of a game.

Having said that, if you have a pump-driven variable pressure air mattress, it oughtn't to have deflated during a power outage - there's supposed to be a valve, I think, to stop that happening too fast. I should get someone out to check it if I were you because it's possible there's a leak.

How quickly your father's skin will recover from a pressure sore depends on all sorts of things - how deep it is, where it is, how strong his skin is, underlying health conditions such as kidney disease - but there isn't really a timetable. The important thing is to become ferocious about his skin integrity routine from here. Do you have access to a specialist wound care nurse? - these people are terrifically helpful.

I've been told they can develop in just a few hours, especially in someone whose health is already compromised. How long it will take to heal depends on the stage and his overall ability to heal, when my mom was still living with me she developed a stage one spot on her hip - really nothing more than red skin and tenderness - and I was astonished that it took several weeks to return to normal.

(BTW, try adding a protein supplement to his diet to help with healing)