Wounds that may deserve surgical evaluation.
Most wounds heal with conservative care. These are the categories where, when healing stalls, another level of evaluation can change the outcome. And wounds are not just a leg or foot problem: they occur anywhere on the body, and every location deserves the same standard of evaluation.
Seven categories, one question.
Is this wound still progressing? If not, each of these categories has a version that deserves surgical evaluation. Evaluation first; intervention only when appropriate.
Wounds that have stopped progressing
Deep wounds
Chronic pressure injuries
Diabetic foot wounds
Venous ulcers
Ulcers that remain open despite appropriate compression and evidence-based treatment.
Non-healing surgical wounds
Infection, tissue loss, dehiscence, or dead space after a prior procedure, including post-amputation revision.
Wounds requiring reconstruction
Wounds that call for surgical care reconstruction or advanced biologics to close, evaluated for candidacy first.
Dressings alone may not address the underlying structural problem.
A deep wound with exposed bone, a stage 4 pressure injury, or a diabetic foot wound that keeps failing despite offloading isn’t a dressing-selection problem. Some chronic pressure injuries require surgical planning, not simply ongoing dressing changes, and some diabetic foot wounds become limb-preservation cases.
That’s what the evaluation is for: determining which wounds have a structural, infectious, or reconstructive component that conservative care alone can’t resolve, and which simply need a refined conservative plan.
Most wounds heal with conservative care. The ones that don’t deserve a decision, not another month of the same plan.
Not sure which category a wound falls into?
That’s exactly what the evaluation answers. Urgent referrals are scheduled within the week, and a structured note goes back to the referring provider after every encounter.