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Step 1
Expect gangrene to affect the extremities. Look for signs of gangrene in fingers and toes, legs, feet, hands and arms. Understand that gangrene can occur in the abdomen and intestines as well.
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Step 2
Watch for signs of gangrene following surgery or traumatic injury. Notice symptoms developing in the 24 hours following surgery or injury. Gangrene can develop up to six weeks later.
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Step 3
Look for extremities to turn cold due to the lack of decreased blood flow. The tissue discoloration increases until it's dark and dry to the touch. Note these symptoms in dry and moist gangrene.
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Step 4
Observe a red line on the skin that follows the border of an area affected by dry or moist gangrene. Anticipate pain in the early stages which eventually goes numb as the condition advances.
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Step 5
Ask a patient about heaviness in the region where gas gangrene is suspected. Watch for red and blistered skin as the color of the tissue progresses from dusky, to brown and then black.
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Step 6
Notice the tell-tale smell of gas gangrene, in which toxic gases form under the skin in the presence of bacteria. The wound oozes brown pus that gives off a terrible odor.
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Step 7
Experience a fever, an elevated heart rate, loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhea to accompany cases of gangrene. Seek medical attention immediately for this life-threatening condition.
Comments
marthaburns said
on 2/18/2009 My daughter who was born after I had untreated putrifying infection after the birth of my son in Galveston, Texas may have had lymes disease because someone in Galveston used her bed for a dog bed. What can she do about it now after 36 years. We didn't get much medical care then.
marthaburns said
on 2/18/2009 If you have a putrifying infection after child birth in the uterous, that is black in apperance, what might be the problem? If you have had it for more than a year and had no treatment for it and are pregnant again.