Patient Education & Resources
Educating patients is one of the most important parts of successful wound healing. These guides are designed to help you and your caregivers better understand your condition, your treatment, and what to expect at every step of the healing process.
Safe Skin Checklist
Everyday habits that protect skin and prevent pressure wounds before they start.
What is a pressure wound?
A pressure wound (also called a pressure ulcer or bedsore) is an injury to the skin and soft tissue underneath it. It forms when constant pressure squeezes the skin against a bed or wheelchair and cuts off normal blood flow. Without blood, skin cells can be damaged or die quickly.
They usually form where bones sit close to the skin — tailbone (sacrum), heels, hips, ankles, and elbows.
Your daily skin health checklist
- Skin that stays bright red, purple, or dark and does not fade after a couple of hours of relief.
- Skin that breaks open, blisters, or forms an open scrape or deep sore.
- Signs of infection: increased pain, localized swelling, foul odor, yellow drainage, fever, or chills.
Dressing Change Checklist
A simple, step-by-step routine for changing pressure wound and ulcer bandages safely.
Step-by-step by phase
- Fluid on the bandage becomes thick, milky, bright yellow or green, or has a foul odor.
- Skin around the wound looks hot, bright red, swollen, or the redness is spreading.
- You see dark gray or black tissue forming inside the ulcer cavity.
- You develop full-body chills or a fever above 101°F (38.3°C).
Wound VAC Therapy Guide
Understanding your Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) system — care, alarms, and safety.
What is a Wound VAC?
A Wound VAC (Vacuum-Assisted Closure) uses a gentle, continuous vacuum-like suction to speed up healing. A sterile foam dressing is fitted into your wound, sealed with a clear drape, and connected by tubing to a portable pump.
The pump removes excess fluid and bacteria, reduces swelling, keeps the wound environment warm and clean, and gently draws the wound edges closer together while stimulating blood flow.
Essential machine care
Understanding alarms
| Alarm | What it means & how to handle |
|---|---|
| Leak Detected | A breach in the seal. Run your fingers firmly along the clear drape edges and press down. Use extra transparent drape strips from your nurse to patch loose spots. |
| Canister Full | The collection chamber is full. Turn off the alarm and contact your home health agency or clinic to have a professional swap the canister. |
| Low Battery | Internal charge depleted. Connect the machine to a wall outlet using the AC charging block. |
- Active bleeding: sudden bright red blood rapidly filling the tubing or canister.
- Infection warning: fever, chills, worsening pain, expanding redness, or thick yellow/green foul-smelling drainage under the drape.
- Power/suction loss over 2 hours: the sealed environment can foster bacteria. The dressing must be removed by a professional and replaced with clean wet-to-dry gauze.
UltraMIST® Ultrasound Therapy
Pain-free, non-contact ultrasound treatment that accelerates healing on stalled wounds.
What is UltraMIST® therapy?
UltraMIST is an advanced, non-invasive treatment that uses low-frequency acoustic energy to accelerate healing. Unlike traditional methods, nothing solid touches your wound — ultrasound waves travel through a fine, sterile saline mist.
The mist lets healing waves reach deep below the wound surface to stimulate cellular recovery — while staying gentle on sensitive tissue.
Clinical benefits
What to expect at your appointment
- Have an internal electronic implant, such as a cardiac pacemaker.
- Have a known malignancy near the treatment area.
- Are currently pregnant.
UltraMIST is an accelerant, not a standalone cure. It works best alongside proper daily offloading, high-protein nutrition, and specialized home dressings.
Amniotic Skin Grafts & Ulcer Care
A patient's easy guide to advanced biological grafts for deep or stubborn wounds.
What is an amniotic skin graft?
An amniotic skin graft is an advanced treatment designed to jumpstart healing in deep or stubborn ulcers. Instead of harvesting skin from another part of your body, we use a safe, sterilized biological membrane donated by healthy mothers following scheduled Cesarean births.
Think of it as a "super-bandage" — it blends into your skin, delivering natural tissue and growth factors that tell your cells to wake up, lower swelling, block germs, and quickly rebuild healthy skin.
Where do pressure wounds form?
Pressure ulcers happen most often over bony areas that carry your weight — tailbone, heels, hips, and ankles. When they become deep or slow to heal, advanced therapies like amniotic grafts help restart the healing process.
Normal healing vs. possible graft failure
- Clear or pink fluid — a small amount of thin fluid on the outer bandage is normal during the first week.
- Mild pinkness — the edges around the wound may look slightly pink or feel warm as fresh blood arrives to repair the area.
- Tightness or itching — as new skin cells crawl across the graft, the area can feel firm, tight, or intensely itchy.
- Fluid trapping — natural fluids pooling beneath the graft lift the membrane away.
- Sliding & friction — rubbing or moving the body part can tear the fragile new connections.
- Low blood circulation — often from smoking or advanced diabetes, this starves the graft of oxygen.
- Do not disturb the bandage. Amniotic grafts are very thin and delicate. Never peel back or check underneath unless your nurse instructs you to.
- Keep weight completely off the wound. If the ulcer is on your foot, heel, or tailbone, follow offloading rules strictly — use specialty mattresses, foam wedges, or protective healing boots at all times.
- Call us instantly with any concerns. A dedicated clinician is available around the clock through our office.
- Drainage that suddenly becomes thick, milky, bright yellow or green, or develops a foul odor.
- Skin redness that grows larger, spreads outward, or becomes intensely hot and painful.
- The graft inside the wound turns dark gray or black.
- Full-body chills, shivering, sudden confusion, or fever over 101°F (38.3°C).
Reach our clinic at (773) 697-3729.
We're here to guide you through every step of healing.
Our wound care team is a phone call away — and available for in-clinic evaluations at our Chicago office.