Wound vac question

[kristin10]

Hi all,

I have a client right now with a wound vac. I have a question about depth of a wound and applying black foam. This wound is deeper in the center where both edges are closer to his skin surface. Is applying a piece of black foam cut to fit the size of the wound going to provide coverage into the deeper area of the wound? I feel even when it suctions down it won’t fill that deeper area? Should there be a second piece to gently pack into this area and then apply a piece cut to fit the size of the wound? I’m hesitant to apply a second piece underneath incase it gets adhered or difficult to remove. Or perhaps do the “cinnamon roll” technique and fill the deeper center area and bring it up to fill the top surface?

just curious on suggestions! This wound is also very close to his rectum so any advice on keeping it in place would be great! Skin prep of course.

[scribblz, BSN, CNA, LPN]

16 minutes ago, kristin10 said:

Hi all,

I have a client right now with a wound vac. I have a question about depth of a wound and applying black foam. This wound is deeper in the center where both edges are closer to his skin surface. Is applying a piece of black foam cut to fit the size of the wound going to provide coverage into the deeper area of the wound? I feel even when it suctions down it won’t fill that deeper area? Should there be a second piece to gently pack into this area and then apply a piece cut to fit the size of the wound? I’m hesitant to apply a second piece underneath incase it gets adhered or difficult to remove. Or perhaps do the “cinnamon roll” technique and fill the deeper center area and bring it up to fill the top surface?

just curious on suggestions! This wound is also very close to his rectum so any advice on keeping it in place would be great! Skin prep of course.

Hey Kristin,

As long as the black foam covers the entire surface of the wound bed without over lapping to the surrounding skin I believe you should be good. If there is such a difference in depth that the wound vac dressing is caving in on itself then you may need a thicker layer of foam. If it's nicely flat and even with the surrounding skin once the suction is turned on that is a good indicator that the correct amount of foam is in there.

As to keeping incontinence away from my beautiful dressings... one of my favorite products is the thin duoderms if I have them, cut to "window" my dressing to protect the edges so nothing gets under there. They're much more water proof than most dressings. If you don't have those, wide paper tape works too! (Plus it's cheap so if they stool all the time, just change the soiled tape).

[CWS RN]

Utilized white foam in undermining  and difficult visualization areas. It's more dense and less adherant. Then insert black foam.

Don't for get to document how many pieces were placed