Biofilm in chronic wounds: Take a step down, step up approach

Studies show that up to 6 million people in the United States have non-healing wounds, costing more than $3 billion a year.¹ When a wound isn’t following expected healing phases, it may be due to any number of barriers, both local and systemic, including age, diabetes, obesity and the presence of biofilm.

Biofilms are bacterial communities that physically attach to a surface. In both acute and chronic wounds, biofilms may present the most significant barrier to healing because they don’t respond well to traditional antibiotics or biocides.

Discover the new paradigm for chronic wound care

Tools to help you step down, step up

The step down, step up strategy includes aggressive sharp debridement as well as a combination of topical therapies that address biofilm in various ways. Here are two proven tools that you can incorporate into your step down, step up approach to managing biofilm:

It’s important to remember that there’s no one treatment plan for managing biofilm for all patients. Each patient may exhibit different biofilm colonizations and have different comorbidities that determine the best therapy. You may even toggle between two steps until the wound bed is prepared for a different therapy. Use the poster as your guide.

Key takeaway

Biofilm is a common barrier to wound healing and requires the right tools and approach to manage it effectively. Implementing the step down, step up approach can help you care for your patients by reducing the biofilm burden, inhibiting further growth and leading to faster wound healing. Download this poster as a guide.

Read the complete “Consensus guidelines for the identification and treatment of biofilms in chronic nonhealing wounds”