Skin health promotion -
Spasticity can also increase when you have a burn or skin breakdown. Skin breakdown starts out as a red or purple spot on fair skin or a shiny, purple, blue or darker spot on dark skin, which does not fade or go away within 20 minutes.
When you press on the spot with your finger, it does not become lighter blanch. It may feel warmer or cooler than the skin around it.
The spot may feel hard or squishy under your fingers and may look swollen. If you have sensation, it may be itchy or painful. At first, it may not look like much, especially if the skin is not broken or open, but it can get a lot worse.
If your skin becomes blistered, scabbed or has a small open area on the surface, this is more serious, as it indicates that the tissue underneath has begun to die. At this stage, the progression of skin break down is reversible: the skin will return to normal as soon as the cause of the irritation is found and eliminated and the skin is properly cared for.
If these steps are not taken, the damage can rapidly progress to a dangerous level where infection can attack the underlying tissue and bone, posing a serious risk to your health. If the skin is open, contact your health care provider for wound care instructions.
These instructions will generally include cleaning the area with soap and water or a saline solution, keeping the area dry, and eliminating the cause of the problem. Do not use hydrogen peroxide or iodine as these products damage new skin cells in the wound.
They may prescribe special dressing that will optimize healing. If not, cover the area with a non-stick dressing, such as a Telfa pad to protect it from clothing. Change the dressing one to two times per day or if it gets soiled.
Check your skin frequently to be sure the area is not getting worse. Minor burns can also cause blistering and can be treated in the same manner.
If the burn covers a large surface area, you should seek care in the emergency room. Once a treatment plan has been established, you must identify and try to remove the source of the irritation to the affected area as much as possible.
Pressure areas caused by sitting often occur on your ischeal tuberocities sitting bones , lower back, shoulder blades or the back of the heels. If the skin sore is being caused by sitting, check your wheelchair cushion.
Do you have a pressure relieving cushion prescribed by your health care provider? Is it inflated correctly? Some cushions require frequent monitoring of inflation and can leak. Could the cushion be placed backward in the chair? Is it in good repair? Some cushions have gel in them that can get hard or squished out of place.
If you have a therapeutic cushion and are still having difficulty with pressure on your sitting bones, see if you can try different cushions with pressure mapping. Pressure mapping equipment allows clinicians to visually identify your specific pressure areas when sitting on different cushions.
Then the cushion that works best for you can be ordered. Pressure mapping can also be helpful, if you have a condition that can make seating difficult. Conditions, such as scoliosis or a dislocated hip can make the pressure on you sitting bones unequal.
Depending on how bad the skin breakdown is you may need to stay out of your wheelchair for a period of time to allow the area to heal. The areas most vulnerable when lying are the back of the head in young children , ankles, knees, hips or shoulder blades.
If so, avoid positioning on the affected area. If you have difficulty with red areas despite frequent turning, there are various pressure relieving mattresses that can be prescribed by your health care provider to distribute pressure better than a regular mattress.
Unfortunately, if you have never had any skin breakdown, it is difficult to get insurance coverage for this type of specialty mattress. If you have had skin breakdown, coverage is often available.
If the area looks more like a scrape or tear, it may be caused by friction or sheer from sliding down in bed or wheelchair or from dragging your bottom with transfers. If you are dependent on others for part or all of your transfers, there is equipment that can be helpful to prevent sheer injury.
This includes transfer boards, starting with simple slippery wood boards to a b-easy board with a sliding disk, a mechanical lifting device or overhead track lift systems. Your physical therapist and occupational therapist can help you identify equipment that will be most helpful for you and teach you and your care givers how to safely use this equipment.
A hospital bed that raises and lowers and has an elevating head and foot rest can be helpful, especially if you require assistance from others for bathing, positioning and transfers.
Manual hand crank hospital beds or semi-electric hospital beds hand crank to raise and lower the bed and electric to elevate the head and foot are often covered by insurance with a good letter of medical necessity from your health care provider.
Ask your health care provider to order a fully electric hospital bed, if you are unable to operate a hand crank independently. Your health care provider should indicate that you require assistance with transfers and bed mobility and require frequent repositioning to prevent costly skin breakdown.
If you prefer not to have a hospital bed, you can permanently raise the height of your entire bed so that it is even with your wheelchair using blocks of wood, bricks or bed leg adjusters that can be purchased.
If redness persists greater than 20 minutes after removing the brace, do not wear the brace. Have your therapist or orthotist evaluate the brace to see if it can be adjusted or whether it will need to be remade.
Children may need adjustments or replacement of braces as often as every four to six months during growth spurts. Braces will often require adjustment, if you have lost or gained weight, have increased spasticity, decreased range of motion or worsening scoliosis.
Skin breakdown in the perineal area is generally caused by too much moisture often from sweating or irritation from urine and stool. Skin problems in this area start out as redness and swelling rash and can progress to vesicles or pimples with oozing, crusting or scaling.
Once the skin is open, there is increased risk for infection. Gently wash the area with soap that is indicated for the perineal area. Regular bar soap or antibacterial soap used for routine skin care can dry out this skin. The skin in this area will need moisturization with products such as glycerin, lanolin or mineral oil to replace natural moisture that is lost with frequent cleaning.
A skin barrier ointment or creams should be used to protect the skin from moisture or irritation. If the redness or rash last longer than three days, has areas of multiple red bumps or pimples, or if you have oozing pimples that develop into a honey-colored crusted area, you should be seen by a heath professional as you may need treatment for a yeast infection or an antibiotic.
Under-pads or absorbent briefs can be used as long as they wick moisture away, rather than trapping the moisture against the skin. Lastly, try to identify the cause of the skin irritation, especially if from frequent bowel or bladder accidents. Serious skin breakdown occurs when the cause of the problem is not eliminated and tissue has been deprived of oxygen and nutrients for so long that the tissue has died and there is now a large hole or crater.
Damage extends at least into the subcutaneous tissue. In the most serious wounds, tissue death includes muscle and extends as deep as the bone. Drainage is almost always present. If you have fever, see green or yellow drainage, and have a warm temperature around the wound, you may have developed an infection.
Wounds such as this, with or without infection, must be evaluated by a health care professional. This care may be obtained through your spinal cord injury provider or you may be referred to a wound center to be evaluated and treated by a professional that specializes in the treatment of serious wounds.
When an infection forms in a wound, the surrounding tissue and bone can become infected. If this continues, infection can enter the blood stream causing sepsis; and if untreated, can be fatal. If the wound is not infected, you may be able to be treated at home with bed rest and frequent dressing changes.
You should be evaluated by a wound care professional to identify the appropriate treatment plan and dressings. Specialized dressings are important to provide a moist environment for healing.
Moist wounds heal faster than dry wounds. It is easier for a wound in a moist environment to granulate or grow new cells and for the cells to move across the wound bed. A moist environment increases the effectiveness of white blood cells in fighting infection, removing waste and dead tissue.
Specialized dressings are also important to be sure that the wound heals from the inside out. If the wound heals from the outside first, it can trap infection inside that will later flare up and cause the wound to reopen.
Deeper wounds need specialized wound care, including the removal of dead tissue either by special wound dressing or ointments chemical debridement or surgical removal of this tissue. This will then be followed by special dressings and packing material that can absorb drainage, remove dead tissue and then help the body heal itself.
If a wound is draining heavily, a special dressing should be used to contain the drainage. The most serious wounds, those that extend to the bone or have signs of infection, will require hospitalization for treatment.
This will mean several weeks of bed rest with aggressive wound management and IV antibiotics. Aggressive treatment in a hospital that has a specialized wound care team can help you avoid surgery.
Newer wound treatment and dressings can speed healing. Many hospital and wound centers use vacuum assisted closure therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and electrical stimulation either directly in the wound or in the tissue surrounding the wound.
Electrical stimulation should not be used if there is any chance that the underlying bone may be infected osteomyelitis.
If non-surgical treatment fails, or the wound is very severe, surgery will be required. Most often this will involve a muscle flap and skin grafting to close the wound and prevent reoccurrence of skin breakdown.
This type of surgery generally costs thousands of dollars and requires a period of weeks in the hospital followed by several more weeks at home or in the hospital on a specialized bed.
The total process is often 6 — 8 or 10 weeks before you can begin a gradual reseating program. While it is well know that preventing skin breakdown is much easier than treatment and that there are many identified risk factors that can be modified to prevent skin breakdown, we know this is only part of the issue.
In the real world, even with the best self-care or the best caregivers, you can develop skin breakdown if unexpected events or changes in your life occur.
Remember, the threat of skin breakdown never subsides and, in fact, increases with aging and with the length of time from your diagnosis or injury.
It is easy to become over confident or even lax in maintaining prevention habits the longer you have gone without having skin breakdown. Be increasingly vigilant with unexpected changes in your circumstance.
Changes, such the loss of a trusted care giver or increasing responsibilities at home, work or school, can increase the risk to your skin. Sudden breakage of equipment also places you at increased risk.
Being proactive and assertive in monitoring, maintaining and replacing broken or worn out equipment, such as wheelchair cushions is very important. Lastly, if you have a problem with skin breakdown, take charge immediately. Seek out professional help before it becomes serious. get to know us.
meet our staff. meet our partners. see financials. contact us. become a member. find a local support group. find a medical professional. our community in the news. access our resource library.
myelitis helpline. ask the expert podcast series. start a campaign. start a walk in your city. start a support group. Have a cookie! We use cookies for a number of reasons, such as keeping SRNA's website reliable and secure, and providing social media features, and to analyze how our website is used.
By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains.
You can check these in your browser security settings. We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers.
Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Skin Health: Prevention and Treatment of Skin Breakdown. Originally Published in The Siegel Rare Neuroimmune Association Journal Volume V January Janet Dean, MS, RN, CRRN, CRNP The International Center for Spinal Cord Injury Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore Maryland. How can I keep my skin healthy?
Take responsibility for you own skin care The first line of defense in keeping your skin healthy is to take responsibility for your own skin care. Prevent mechanical Injury Prevent mechanical injury to the skin from friction and shearing forces during repositioning and transfers.
Keep skin clean and dry Bathe frequently using mild soap. Eat a healthy diet Eat a healthy diet and drink lots of fluids, especially water. For healthy skin it is especially important to get enough of the following nutrients in your diet: Omega 3 fatty acids salmon, mackerel, flaxseed Vitamin C citrus fruits, strawberries, broccoli Vitamin A Vegetables that are dark green or dark orange in color Zinc seafood, meat and eggs Protein meat, eggs, cheese, and soy products Extra calories, especially from protein, are important for repairing damaged tissues if you do have skin breakdown.
Develop a good home rehabilitation program A regular daily therapy program will contribute to your overall health and well being, as well as reduce the risk of skin breakdown. Avoid prolonged pressure on any one spot Reposition frequently. Use therapeutic surfaces Therapeutic surfaces, such as a pressure relieving wheelchair cushion or a pressure relieving mattress will reduce or relieve pressure, promote blood flow to tissues and enable proper positioning.
Identifying and treating minor skin breakdown What does minor skin breakdown look like? Treating redness or minor skin breakdown If the skin is open, contact your health care provider for wound care instructions. Is the damage being caused by pressure during sitting?
Is the damage being caused by pressure from lying on the area? Does the area of damage look more like a scrape or a tear? Is the area of damage under a brace? Is the redness or breakdown in the diaper perineal area? Identifying and treating serious skin breakdown What does serious skin breakdown look like?
How is serious skin breakdown treated? Conclusion While it is well know that preventing skin breakdown is much easier than treatment and that there are many identified risk factors that can be modified to prevent skin breakdown, we know this is only part of the issue.
Reference list National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel. Updated staging system of the national pressure ulcer advisory panel. Much of the same advice about tattooing applies to body piercing. Infection is possible if the piercer does not follow proper health procedures, such as washing hands, wearing gloves, disinfecting surfaces, and using a new sterile needle.
Infection is also possible if the individual does not care for the hole properly. These people may experience rashes as a result of exposure to the metal. Depending on where jewelry is placed, body piercings can cause problems with speech, eating, hearing and other body functions.
For example, body jewelry can be torn out during contact sports. Dentists are particularly concerned about the dangers of tongue piercings. Among the things that can go wrong as a result of tongue piercings are swelling of the tongue that can interfere with breathing, cracked teeth, choking on loosened or unscrewed jewelry, and infection with hepatitis, HIV or bacteria.
Exercise contributes to weight maintenance, which helps maintain the smooth appearance of the skin. However, some forms of exercise can also damage the skin. For example, weightlifting to increase muscle size can produce "stretch marks" because of breaks within the connective tissue of the dermis.
When a person loses weight too rapidly, his or her existing stretch marks will grow. Exercise also increases sweating and skin temperature. In addition, some clothes and shoes used while exercising can lead to blisters on the hands, feet or body.
Some hair dyes can cause allergic reactions. Be sure to test the dye on a small area of your skin behind the ear or inside the elbow and wait hours before making a change in your hair color with these products.
Permanent waves can damage the hair, so take care not to perm your hair more often than every three months. If the perming solution is left on too long, is too strong or is applied to hair already damaged by dyes, the hair could break and the scalp could become irritated.
Frequent tight braiding or tight ponytails, as well as hair straightening agents, flat irons, curling irons, and hot rollers, can also cause hair loss or broken hair.
Hygiene impacts the health of the skin. If you manicure your own nails, be careful not to cut, remove or injure nail cuticles. Their job is to prevent infection and protect nail-forming cells.
Nail polish and nail glue can cause allergic reactions. Use a polish that is labeled "hypoallergenic" and nail polish remover that is acetone-free. Sculptured nails - those that are custom-made to fit permanently over your natural nails - can cause severe and painful reactions.
Doctors recommend that people who wear artificial nails take them off every three months to allow their natural nails to breathe. Eating a well-balanced diet helps insure that your body gets all the vitamins it needs to maintain healthy skin.
The following nutrients help the life of your skin:. Through the skin's process of sweating, the water we drink helps to cool our bodies in warm weather. When the body gets too warm, water seeps out through the sweat pores of the skin.
Sweat evaporates from our skin using heat from the body to turn the liquid into vapor. It is harder for the sweat to evaporate quickly on a humid day, which is why we feel warmer than we do on a dry day at the same temperature. Smokers have more wrinkles around their eyes and mouths, especially since they're continually tightening their lips around cigarettes.
Tobacco and cigarettes can cause the skin to turn an unhealthy, unnatural color. When emphysema in the lungs causes shortness of breath, the skin may turn bluer due to lack of oxygen. Stress plays a role in skin care, especially because many habits associated with stress hurt the skin.
For example, lip biting can tear and damage skin. Rubbing and scratching the skin can cause a skin condition called dermatitis. Picking at the cuticle skin around your nails can also produce infection.
Additionally, if you shower with very hot water to relieve stress, your skin may become dry and itchy. Stress can also play a role in the development of various skin ailments. Limiting your exposure to ultraviolet UV radiation while protecting your skin is the single most important thing you can do to maintain healthy skin.
Tattooing has been performed as a decorative art form since ancient times. Today, it is growing in popularity and is also being used as a form of permanent make-up.
Tattooing involves injecting dyes into the skin with multiple injections from one or more needles. It can take several hours to complete a tattoo and the procedure may be painful. It may also cause some bleeding. It takes about 7 to 10 days for the tattoo to heal. Tattooing received a bad reputation in the past due to tattoo artists who neglected health and safety concerns.
This resulted in outbreaks of infectious diseases and banning of the practice in some states and localities. The two biggest risks in getting a tattoo are allergic responses to the dyes and exposure to bloodborne pathogens. The dyes are made from chemical compounds ranging from metal oxides to synthetic organic dyes.
The most common infectious diseases associated with tattoos are atypical mycobacteria and hepatitis B, although hepatitis C and HIV are also possible.
Proper disinfection and sterilization procedures must be followed. Someone thinking of getting a tattoo should check with the state or local health department to see which regulations exist in the area, such as a requirement that only new sterile needles be used. Also, check to see if the tattooist has been certified by the Alliance for Professional Tattooists.
Although tattoos can be removed, the process is very expensive and painful. It may take several months and could result in scarring. We've seen that our skin is our body's largest organ. And we have a responsibility to take care of our skin.
One of the best ways to accomplish this is to schedule regular visits with a medical skin care expert - your local dermatologist. Your dermatologist has the training and expertise to help keep your skin healthy throughout your life.
To find a dermatologist in your area, please visit American Academy of Dermatology's "Find a Dermatologist". American Skin Association EIN is a not-for-profit organization recognized as a tax-exempt under the Internal Revenue Code section c 3.
Print this S,in. Our insides Increase brain power certainly important, Coughing skin Increase brain power your first ptomotion of defense against the outside world. Skin can also give important clues to your overall health. Learn to take good care of your skin, so your skin can keep taking good care of you. Skin protects your body in many ways. Heidi Kong. Skin plays other roles, too.Skin health promotion -
I can speak from my own experience — while we know what we are supposed to do, it is difficult to stay on track. We have all heard the benefits of staying hydrated; it is just hard at times to keep up. It is very important to protect our skin from the sun.
Always use a moisturizer, sunscreen and cosmetics that contain SPF 15 or higher. Make sure your sunscreen protects against UV-A and UV-B rays for ultimate protection.
A good hat and sunglasses are also great ways to achieve sun protection. Some skin care products can help promote youthful, healthy skin. Look for skin care products with effective anti-aging ingredients, such as vitamins A, C and E, retinol, peptides, alpha hydroxy acids AHAs and glycolic acid.
Most major skin care brands offer products with these anti-aging ingredients. These products will help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and help slow the aging process.
UV rays can reach you on cloudy and cool days, and they reflect off of surfaces like water, cement, sand, and snow. In the continental United States, UV rays are strongest from 10 a. daylight saving time 9 a. standard time. The UV Index forecasts the strength of UV rays each day. If the UV index is 3 or higher in your area, protect your skin from too much exposure to the sun.
CDC recommends several ways to protect your skin when the UV index is 3 or higher—. Indoor tanning using a tanning bed, booth, sunbed, or sunlamp to darken the skin exposes users to high levels of UV rays. Over time, too much exposure to UV rays can cause skin cancers, cataracts, and cancers of the eye.
A tan does not indicate good health. Melanin is the pigment that gives skin its color. It moves toward the outer layers of the skin and becomes visible as a tan.
Any change in skin color after UV exposure whether it is a tan or a burn is a sign of injury, not health. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to search. Español Other Languages. What Can I Do to Reduce My Risk of Skin Cancer?
Español Spanish. Minus Related Pages. Making sun protection an everyday habit will help lower your skin cancer risk. Practice Sun Safety Protection from UV rays is important all year, not just during the summer. CDC recommends several ways to protect your skin when the UV index is 3 or higher— Stay in the shade.
Wear clothing that covers your arms and legs. Wear a hat with a wide brim to shade your face, head, ears, and neck. Wear sunglasses that wrap around and block both UVA and UVB rays.
Aging helth various anatomical, physiological, and Effective appetite control app changes. Skin aging can be broadly conceptualized Mobility exercises and stretches intrinsic pomotion extrinsic hewlth. The geriatric population Increase brain power particularly vulnerable for developing certain skin diseases. The prevalence of pathological skin diseases increases substantially with age. The most prevalent skin diseases in aged populations are fungal infections including onychomycosis and tinea pedis, various forms of dermatitis and xerosis cutis with pruritus, as well as actinic keratosis, benign skin tumors, and pressure ulcers.
Gerade, was notwendig ist.
Ich meine, dass Sie sich irren. Ich kann die Position verteidigen. Schreiben Sie mir in PM, wir werden besprechen.
Was Sie anfingen, auf meiner Stelle zu machen?
Ich entschuldige mich, aber meiner Meinung nach irren Sie sich. Geben Sie wir werden besprechen. Schreiben Sie mir in PM, wir werden umgehen.