Does Smoking Adversely Impact the Wound Healing Process?

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• According to the Centers for Disease Control,
  more than 16 million Americans are living with a
  disease caused by smoking. Smoking causes various
  kinds of health issues. Delayed wound healing is
  one among these. Any amount of smoking can delay
  the wound healing process. The wound healing
  process comprises different stages

• Inflammatory
• Proliferative
• Maturation
• Remodeling

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• As cigarettes contain harmful substances such as
  carbon monoxide, nicotine and cyanide
  derivatives, these can negatively influence these
  healing stages.
• Burns, infections, scratching, or surgery can
  result in wounds. To heal after surgery, oxygen
  is needed for your tissues. The smoking habit
  reduces the supply of oxygen to the affected
  region, thus delaying the process of wound
  healing.

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How Smoking Impacts Wound Healing
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• Causing infections in the wounded area
• Reducing the levels of vitamin C that is vital
  for healing
• Reducing cell proliferation and migration across
  the wound bed
• Affecting macrophage activity
• Reducing epithelialization and wound contraction
• Obstructing oxygenation of the wound
• Weakening the immune system
• Decreasing blood flow to the extremities

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Why You Should Quit Smoking
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• Smoking has a great negative effect on the wound
  healing process, but quitting before undergoing a
  surgery can have benefits that last.
• Here are the benefits
• Improves surgical outcomes
• Reduces post-surgical wound complications
• Reduces the time it takes for the wound to heal

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• Accurate wound assessment plays a vital role in
  determining the appropriate management of a wound
  to promote healing. While documenting non-healing
  wounds, nurses at wound clinics should also
  document the patients smoking history along with
  health history, current and past medications,
  wound size, location, infection and pain. Here
  comes the importance of using wound care software
  programs, which can assist clinical settings with
  accurate and faster documentation of patient
  records.

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CONTACT
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• WoundWizard provides you with total wound care
  solutions management program. WoundEMR line of
  electronic medical record software is ideal for
  long term care facilities, hospitals, wound care
  centers and healthcare facilities.

WoundWizard 941 McLean Avenue, Suite
387 Yonkers, NY 10704 Tel 855-WOUNDWIZARD
855-968-6394 Fax [phone]