Abstract

A wound refers to the loss in normal anatomical structure and functional integrity of the skin which is an outermost layer and first line defense of the body. It can be described by different ways based on its etiology, anatomical location, healing time, and level of contamination. In medical terminology, a wound can be defined as sharp injury that damages the epidermal tissues of the skin resulting in loss of external protective barrier to the underlying tissues making them susceptible to a variety of environmental insults, abrasions, and attack by pathogens [1]. Wounds can be broadly classified as acute if they are new and chronic if they are persistent for more than 8 weeks despite optimal medical treatment. The chronic wounds are basically acute wounds which have not progressed through the orderly well-orchestrated natural wound healing process of haemostasis, inflammation, cell proliferation and tissue re modelling or in other words wounds which have been arrested in inflammatory phase of the wound healing cascade resulting in unmanageable inflammation, continuing infection, and weakened re-epithelization [2].