VALO'S ARCHIVE

A wound is a break or opening in the skin. Your skin protects your body from germs. When the skin is broken, even during surgery, germs can enter and cause infection. Wounds often occur because of an accident or injury. Types of wounds include: Cuts Scrapes Puncture wounds Burns Pressure sores A wound may be smooth or jagged. It may be near the surface of the skin or deeper. Deep wounds can affect: Tendons Muscles Ligaments Nerves Blood vessels Bones Minor wounds often heal easily, but all wounds need care to prevent infection. Stages of Wound Healing Wounds heal in stages. The smaller the wound, the quicker it will heal. The larger or deeper the wound, the longer it takes to heal. When you get a cut, scrape, or puncture, the wound will bleed. The blood will start to clot within a few minutes or less and stop the bleeding. The blood clots dry and form a scab, which protects the tissue underneath from germs. Not all wounds bleed . For example, burns, s...

What are bleeding disorders? In people with bleeding disorders, the clotting process doesn’t work properly. As a result, people with bleeding disorders can bleed for longer than normal, and some may experience spontaneous bleeding into joints, muscles, or other parts of their bodies. Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder that affects approximately 1 in 10,000 people. People with hemophilia do not have enough clotting factor VIII or IX in their blood. As a result, they can bleed for longer than normal. The most common bleeding disorder is von Willebrand disease ( VWD ). It is generally less severe than other bleeding disorders. Many people with VWD may not know that they have the disorder because their bleeding symptoms are very mild.  Rare clotting factor deficiencies are disorders in which one of several clotting factors is missing or not working properly. Less is known about these disorders because they are diagnosed so rarely. In fact, many have only been discove...