Wound descriptions--beefy red versus red?

[queenjulie, RN]

I'm just starting to learn dressing changes and charting wound descriptions, and I have a question. Why do we call a clean, healing wound "beefy red," instead of just "red"? Does "red" always imply swelling and possible infection? I haven't done a dressing change on a real patient yet, just a mannequin, but I probably will next week, and I'm afraid I won't know what I'm looking for as far as color. I've been Googling "beefy red wounds," but there's such a variety, it's hard to tell what is "good" redness and what is bad.

[Mona77]

Beefy red is very abstract, we use the term "granulation tissue apparent" to describe a clean and healing wound!

Granulation tissue is characterized as light red or dark pink in color, perfused with new capillary loops, soft when touching, moist and rough in appearance.

Red does not always imply an infection, but it is unspecific when describing a wound!

Hope that this information will help!