The Science of Compounded Wound Dressings: Advanced Formulations for Improved Wound Management

Chronic wounds can lead to serve systemic infection, which can eventually impact organs in your body adversely leading to widespread dysfunction and failure. In the worst-case scenario, chronic wounds can even lead to permanent scarring, amputation, and death. In 2023, research estimates that about 2% of people will experience a long-term wound in their lives. Conventional wound treatment remedies may not fully address the individual needs of the patient, thus further delaying healing and increasing the risk of aggravating physiological damage. There’s where a compounding pharmacy Florida steps in to provide compounded wound dressings with advanced formulations. Here’s your complete breakdown of how it all works and what it entails. 

Compounding for wound care

Compounding for wound care typically seeks to promote efficient healing in several ways. It addresses a variety of wounds caused due to: 

• Chronic diseases
• Hospitalization (e.g., bed sores)
• Burns
• Tissue donation
• Injury
• Surgery, etc 

With excellent versatility, compounded medications provide relief and recovery due to wounds arising from a plethora of scenarios. 

The goal of the compounding pharmacy providing this service is to halt infection, provide pain relief throughout the body, and stimulate more blood flow to the wood to reduce downtime. This process typically occurs via topical creams, gel, and ointments which are applied onto the dressing or directly onto the site. 

Formulations finetuned to address specific wound needs

No two wounds have the same needs. Your compounding pharmacy operates upon this principle, carefully taking into consideration unique metrics about your wound. This will inform a bespoke treatment plan tailored to match the severity of your injury, unique biological markers, and physiology at large.

As a result, you get compounded wound care remedies that meet specific concerns without being over the top like OTC drugs, which run the risk of being too potent and thus further elevate the injury. This might be part of the reason why you may feel overwhelming irritation and burning when you rely on over-the-counter products to nurse your wound. 

How compounding wound care works 

If you’re managing a wound, your physician might recommend multiple drugs that you’ll need to take simultaneously. Compounding wound care pharmacies can merge these different needs into a single topical therapy. For instance, an assisted living pharmacy can combine several functions, providing a singular product with multi-medication characteristics such as:

• Tissue growth simulation
• Antibiotic 
• Antiseptic and so on

With a lower medical burden on the patient, this improves the chances of compliance and leads to better wound care management. 

Behind the science of compounded wound care

The most common route of wound care management through compounding usually involves the use of compounded gels, ointments & creams. These products contain different ingredients, the most common of which include misoprostol, ketoprofen, phenytoin, and morphine sulfate. 

It’s not uncommon for administration to be oral or leverage injectables as well. That said, let’s get a better understanding of how the science works: 

• Pain relief

Topical compounded medications provide pain relief by directing soothing inflammation and pain receptors around them. While traditional opioids are degraded by the digestive tract and the liver when ingested before they reach the target site, compounded topical meds bypass metabolism ensuring much more effective and fast-acting pain relief. 

Sometimes, pain may not be due to inflammation, more so in cases of some chronic wounds. Compounded medication allows pharmacists to combine different pain modulators, essentially covering all their bases.

• Malodourous wounds

Some chronic wounds can emit foul odors, typically resulting from the waste material that wound bacteria emit. These types of wounds are commonplaced among palliative patients and some aerobic bacteria that are usually to blame for this include: 

• Pseudomonas
• Klebsiella 
• Proteus

A compounding pharmacy can nullify the odor through a mixture of antifungal and antibiotic powders, administered into the wound via a loose dressing. Special acids and solutions may also be incorporated to manage a tumor. 

• Special dressing

Proper dressing is just as important an aspect of wound care management as the actual medication. A compounding pharmacy Florida can provide special bandages with superior properties over traditional dressings. 

For example, some pharmacies provide special topical bandages. Aside from locking in the moisture around the wound to accelerate healing and lower the risk of scarring, these bandages also provide longer service than contemporary dressings to ensure minimal wound disturbance. In other cases, you may receive a polyox bandage that protects the wound and catalyzes healing through the action of several active ingredients. 

Mucosal wounds, i.e. those occurring internally e.g. within the mouth or nose, can be near inaccessible for treatment, ruling out the use of contemporary dressings. Pharmacists can formulate special compounds based on mucoadhesive polymers, which attach to the target site to fulfill the functions of a dressing. Once the wound is healed, the pharmacy can take out the substance without hindering the development of new tissue. 

Benefits of compounding over traditional wound care

There are many upsides to leveraging compounding wound care solutions compared to traditional OTC remedies. They include: 

• Minimized addiction: Compound meds lower the risk of addiction by reducing systemic contact with the drug
• Lowering the medication burden: A single care cream can fulfill the duties of three to five separate drugs
• Providing healing for particularly hard-to-treat areas
• Lowering the risk of allergic reactions as a compounding pharmacy can eliminate allergens from ingredients
• Ability to switch administration routes to cater to preferences and medical conditions like dysphagia 

Moreover, when facing uncommon or super rare wounds, contemporary wound care management solutions can fall short. Compounding proves the superior option in this case, with customized formulations that meet these unusual needs. 

Wounds don’t wait. So shouldn’t you

Regular cleaning of the wound is necessary to accelerate healing and fight off pathogens. A compounding pharmacy may be able to provide compounded medications and special wound dressings to achieve both. If you’ve had a wound that has persisted for longer than it should and you notice any signs of wound infection (e.g. severe discoloration, pain & pus), we advise that you seek medical attention urgently. Don’t let old wounds hang around. Visit the Bay Life Pharmacy website for compounded wound care solutions that afford higher quality and safer wound care management.