At Ocala Infectious Disease and Wound Care Center, our focus is not only on the wound treatment itself, but the patient who has the chronic wound. Treating acute and chronic wounds is a medical specialty that often requires knowledge and expertise not only in wound care, but ability to identify and treat underlying causes of impaired wound healing. Our highly skilled team of physicians, nurse practitioners, and wound care specialists provide an individualized plan of care based on each patient’s needs.
With ten years of experience, we have a high rate of success related to wound healing and limb salvage. We not only work in acute care settings like the hospital, but our main practice has been in the community with numerous primary wound care and specialty practice. We take pride in excellent communication skills with your referring provider.
Who’s a Candidate?
For most uncomplicated acute wounds, your primary care provider will typically be able to treat you. Once a wound becomes infected, slow to heal, or with other disease complications, you may require a wound care specialist like ourselves. We offer treatment for individuals with acute or chronic wounds of many different types, including:
- Non-healing post-surgical wounds
- Limb salvage
- Burns
- Diabetic ulcers
- Pressure ulcers
- Traumatic wounds
- Venous ulcers
- Peripheral vascular disease ulcers
- Wounds associated with infections
- Threatened skin flaps
What do we offer different than my primary care doctor?
Since we specialize in the treatment of wounds, Ocala Wound Care Center is equipped to use some of the most up to date technology and evidenced based practice techniques available today. Combined with extensive knowledge on pathophysiology of chronic wound treatment and the many disease processes which impede wound healing, we are able to provide a total care package to optimize chronic wound treatment for each patient.
What works for one patient does not work for all. Depending on a patient’s medical needs, a combination of wound treatments may be included in their chronic wound management. Some of these treatment and assessment techniques may include:
- Advanced dressings and wraps
- Antibiotic therapy
- Application of specialty dressings
- Bio-engineered tissue substitutes
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy – largest, most comfortable chambers in Marion County!
(to help raise oxygen levels at the wound site) - Negative pressure wound therapy
- Total contact casting (for pressure related foot wounds)
- Off-loading with crutches, wheelchairs and other devices
- Surgical debridement to remove infected tissue and bone
- Compression Therapy
- Arterial Brachial Indexes (evaluate blood flow in extremities)
- Nutritional screening
- Patient, Family/Caregiver education
- Skin Care
- IV antibiotics
- Home Health
- Referral for: Vascular, Orthopedic, Surgical, Plastics, Endocrine, and Podiatry consultation, X-ray, MRI, Bone Scans
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Oxygen is one of the most basic and essential elements required to sustain human life. It is also one of the most powerful and useful agent available to modern medicine toady. Your body’s tissues need an adequate supply of oxygen to function. When tissue is traumatized by injury, infection, or blockage in blood supply, tissue death can occur. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy works by increasing the amount of oxygen inhaled in an environment under increased pressure resulting in high concentrations of oxygen being forced deep into the tissues.
What to Expect from your visits
The individualized treatment plan may include regular visits to our center to directly provide wound treatment and allow for close monitoring for any changes in your progress. You also may be given information on how to care for your wound at home and shown how to do so. Sometimes, home health is required for those whom are home bound. We will also help to provide you with any necessary supplies needed at the lowest cost possible to you.
We will also collaboratively work with your referring physician throughout your treatment. Our team of doctors and nurse practitioners will provide progress reports to your physician and directly contact them for management of any possible complications.
Why Wound Care Shouldn’t Stop Once the Wound Is Healed
At most wound care centers, once the chronic wound is healed, the patient no longer comes for follow up visit. At Ocala Infectious Disease and Wound Center, we have a well known reputation of building long term relationships with many of our clients. Some wounds like surgical or trauma related wounds do not reoccur once the initial wound is healed. But for a large number of our patients, these wounds are caused by chronic illnesses like Diabetes, Neuropathy, or Venous Insufficiency.
Although these types of chronic wounds many times cannot be completely prevented, they can be properly managed to where they do not impede on a patient’s lifestyle and can be treated early to prevent any major complications. This is a huge asset for many, especially for those who typically would require hospitalization once or twice a year for their wounds. Many times (unfortunately not always based on the patient needs), we are able to prevent any hospitalization for wound related issues once you are an established patient and have been treated for your initial wound.
How Do I Get an Appointment?
There are two ways to access the specialists at the Ocala Infectious Disease and Wound Center:
1. Ask your physician to refer you to our Wound Care Center.
2. Contact the Wound Care Center yourself.
Office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00am – 5:00pm. For more information please call Ocala Infectious Disease and Wound Center at (352) 401-7552.
I still don’t understand why wounds fail to heal. It doesn’t seem that complicated?
Under normal circumstances in otherwise healthy individuals, wounds such as cuts, burns, and ulcers should heal at an expected rate on their own. However, many factors like diabetes, obesity, poor nutrition, decreased circulation, and even infection can slow the normal course of wound healing.
Wounds that have failed to proceed in an orderly set of stages and a predictable amount of time are considered chronic wounds and need proper evaluation to determine the causes behind the wound failing to heal. Left untreated, chronic wounds can slowly continue to worsen, lead to systemic infection, hospitalization, require longer treatment times to heal, and even decrease quality of life. To learn more about wound cases and systemic causes click here.