At the Limb Preservation, Wound care and Hyperbaric Medicine Program, patients can benefit from the tremendous scientific progress that has been made in the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds.

The treatment of wounds has come a long way from the old-fashioned gauze and antibiotic ointment. We use the most modern treatment modalities available. These include:

Apligraf — a Bioengineered skin graft made in the laboratory from components of neonatal foreskin. Cells are taken and grown in the lab, then are combined to make a piece of living, bioengineered skin, roughly 2½ x 2½ inches. The Apligraf has many advantages over the traditional skin graft. It's not a surgical procedure; instead, the Apligraf is simply placed on the wound to stimulate the patient's healing process. It doesn't require the removal of another piece of the patient's skin for use in the graft. Unlike a traditional skin graft, which looks like a piece or "patch" of unchanged skin, the Apligraf looks better when it heals, contracting to a fine scar.

Regranex — a synthesized form of one of the 26 known growth factors found in human skin. Extracting Regranex in its natural form from human skin is a complicated and expensive process. Therefore, scientists recently discovered how to make it synthetically in the laboratory. Now available in ointment form, when simply applied to the wound, Regranex stimulates the body's own growth and healing process.

Wound-vac — a continuous suction device that, when placed in the wound, removes excess fluids and promotes healing. This battery-powered device uses a small plastic container no bigger than a small pocketbook or fanny pack, and can be worn comfortably around the waist. The wound-vac has been very successful for the healing of all types of wounds.

Two hyperbaric chambers — isolated and highly controlled oxygen-rich environments that deliver additional oxygen to the tissues of the body and considerably expedite healing. The chambers compress oxygen bubbles so that even patients with poor circulation can absorb them more efficiently. This increased oxygen delivery furthers the body's ability to kill germs and increases healing, even in the most difficult-to-heal wounds.