Delayed Healing of Open Fracture Wound
This is somewhat of a follow-up to this post
I fell down some stairs which resulted in an open comminuted tibia fracture. The fracture wound is located in an area of the shin that does not allow for sutures as the skin is too tight there. The wound developed an eschar covering a little over 3 weeks past the onset of injury. It was stable for 11 days then it broke apart revealing a layer of slough underneath. The wound has continued to open up and is producing a lot of exudate. It is serous and serosanguineous and soaks through 4 abdominal pads a day. The exudate covers around one-third to one-half of the pad. I have also started walking a few minutes a day in a cam boot.
I don't fully understand my doctor's approach to my wound. He said the slough/eschar was acting as a "Bio-Bandaid" at one of my appointments because it was completely covering the wound, but did not modify the care plan after it broke apart. He doesn't want any sharp or mechanical debridement due to the potential of healthy tissue damage. I did order some calcium alginate pads which I hope will help.
This is a picture of the wound before eschar developed
This is a picture from today
This is a closeup of the wound bed. How deep does it look? Is it deeper than the first picture? Does the underlying tissue look healthy?
Posted Jun 8, 2026, 4:52 AM UTC