Symptoms of Dry Gangrene

Dry gangrene seems to affect the elderly, many of whom have low funds for treatment, are unable to diagnose themselves, and generally put off going to the doctor until a problem reaches its peak point.

Dry Gangrene

Dry gangrene usually appears in elderly patients who lack care and the ability to take care of themselves correctly due to disability, age or poverty. Dry gangrene forms by a problem with necrosis or cell death. It usually afflicts the extremities of elderly patients. Although the infected skin is dry, it takes on a "mummified" look, becoming black and shrunken. This infection will spread if not treated, and the affected skin can literally fall off of the body. Dry gangrene also occurs when blood flow to a certain area is affected and cut off.

Symptoms

The earliest symptoms of dry gangrene are an ache and a freezing sensation in the infected area, along with pallor, of bloodlessness and numbness in the region. Blood flow is restricted and the infected portion is unable to heal itself, thus ending in further necrosis. After a certain point, there is little that can be done to save the extremity and it will have to be amputated. The extremities begin to exhibit color changes in early diagnosis, beginning as a reddish, rusty brown line of color around the infected area as the blood stops reaching the area and finally ending as a shrunken, black wound in the flesh.

Pain

The onset of pain from the gangrene varies from patient to patient. One patient may have a constant feeling of numbness, and another may exhibit constant pain in the region. It is important to have the disease treated before pain, deformation and loss of function is damaged irrevocably. The pain that accompanies gangrene is constant and will restrict the patient's ability to move, walk and bandage the infected area properly.

Treatment

In some cases, maggots will be introduced into the wound and allowed to eat away at the bacteria building up in the region. Maggot therapy is still employed and often quite useful for treatment. The maggots are applied before dressing the wound. The dressings seal up the infection, leaving the maggots to rid the body of its bacteria build-up.

Warning

If you see any of these signs on yourself or a loved one, it is best to seek medical treatment as soon as possible. The longer you allow the disease to grow, the greater the chances are for an amputation. After a certain point, the skin is too necrotic and simply cannot be healed with antibiotics or other therapies.