What is a wound?

From the Latin word plaga, the wound can be defined as a break in the skin which is a result of direct trauma or an underlying aetiology.

What is the difference between a chronic and an acute wound?

There are two categories of wounds:

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· Acute wounds

They can be defined as wounds of sudden onset and of short duration. They include burns, post-operative wounds linked to a surgical intervention, traumatic wounds following an accident such as cuts, lacerations but also bites / scratches, frostbite and insect stings.

For acute wounds, the physiological healing process lasts between 2 and 4 weeks⁽¹⁾. (Read our article on "The principles of wound healing").

· Chronic wounds

Chronic wounds can be defined as wounds which have not progressed along the expected wound healing trajectory and have deteriorated or stagnated during the wound healing process. The chronic nature can be explained by the presence of infection or biofilm, elevated protease activity or an underlying aetiology. Patients with a chronic wound require wound assessment and management of the local wound factors presented and treatment of the underlying wound aetiology. Wounds can be defined as chronic from onset when associated with an underlying aetiology, such as venous leg ulcers (ref: NICE 2016), Pressure Ulcers and Diabetic Foot Ulcers.

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Regardless of the depth of tissue loss and whether the wound is defined as acute or chronic, all wounds need appropriate assessment, treatment and care. The skin is a protective barrier and when compromised the underlying structures are exposed and at increased risk of infection due to bacterial contamination and, therefore, to the risk of infection.

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Did you know? The skin a living organ

In adulthood, the skin of a human being represents an area of approximately 2 square meters! Its weight, meanwhile, is around 3.5 kg for a woman and fluctuates between 4.5 and 5 kg for a man, making the skin the largest organ in the body. The skin is constantly evolving and gets rid of 2 layers of dead cells daily. This explains why the epidermis, in 70 years of life, renews itself more than 1,000 times!

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(1) Wallace et al. 2021 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470443/