Symptoms of bedsores in the elderly

Many people will suffer from bedsores when they get older. Short-term or long-term pressure will cause certain skin diseases, which brings a lot of trouble and inconvenience to people. When you are older or have elderly people over 70 years old around you, you should pay attention to the occurrence of bedsores to avoid causing yourself some unnecessary trouble. I hope everyone will take more precautions and be vigilant.

There are many types of bedsores in the elderly. No matter what situation we encounter, we must actively prevent and treat it so that people can enjoy their old age and live a healthy and happy life. We must pay attention to diet, health care, and drug treatment and prevention. This double protection will ensure people's health.

Symptoms and signs include:

(1) Symptoms are atypical. Elderly people with hypoalgesia and dementia cannot promptly report the occurrence of bedsores. Medical staff need to closely observe the pressure points to detect them in time. In particular, when bedsores cause systemic infection, the early symptoms are often atypical. If fever, increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, hypothermia, shivering, chills, sweating, and changes in consciousness occur, one should be alert to the possibility of bedsores combined with infection.

(2) Susceptible to secondary infection: Elderly people are more susceptible to secondary infection because of the atrophy and decrease in the number of parenchymal cells in their major organs, which reduces their energy reserves, reduces their adaptability, and reduces their immunity. Infections in the damaged area and its surroundings are more likely to occur. In severe cases, sepsis may occur.

(3) Difficulty in healing. Elderly people often suffer from mixed bedsores. Factors that affect the healing of bedsores are complex, such as poor nutritional status due to old age, decreased immune system function resulting in reduced formation of phagocytes, weakened phagocytic function, emotional tension, and microvascular contraction, which reduces the microcirculation and the delivery of nutrients to the wound bed, resulting in poor repair ability and extremely difficult healing. This is an important reason for prolonging hospitalization time, slowing down recovery and increasing mortality.

As people get older, their skin resistance becomes weaker and weaker, making them more susceptible to infection with germs. Their skin has extremely poor repair ability, and it is difficult to heal once infected with some germs. Therefore, people should pay more attention to their health problems as they age. This will allow people to fully enjoy the beauty of life and the peaceful life of the elderly.