non-healing , non cancerous sore on toe

[Chief79]

I have a non -healing , non-cancerous (diagnosed by biopsy)sore on my left big toe. Tried everything I can think of to get relief (been there over two years) .Dermatology ,wound care speacialist,general practicioner all have told me that I'll have to "learn to live with it " Can anyone out there in cyberspac offer a suggestion ? Thank you.

[Chief79]

I am not diabetic ,yes ,it causes me much pain (constantly)I do not have circulatory troubles (yet) and ,believe it ,or not  doc said go ahead and try the orange peel. I'll let you know in a few days if it's doing any good. Thank you ,one and all.

[MaritimeFox]

Are you diabetic? Do you have a pain level? Is there a dressing on the toe? Is it infected? Do you have poor circulation? I have never tried this.....but i have been told that some people have used ionized water to soak the affected area in , for good results. ( i realize this might sound silly ) but in the orient they have used this as a medical treatment for years with success. There is a device you can purchase that uses your tap water to get this ionized water. actually there are many benefits from it. Diabetics have also had success with sugar level control. Best of luck. MaritimeFox

[Tuckamore]

I found three Forums that may be more suited to your questions. One is the  MedHelps' Dermatology Community.  

There are two MedHelp Expert Forums where a physician is usually available to respond to your questions. The first one is  The Expert Dermatology Forum and yo might want to try our Urgent Care Expert Forum.

You can locate these by clicking on the word Forums in the blue banner at the top of this page. Please know that you are always welcome here....I just thought they may be of more assistance.

Take Care,
~Tuck

[Tuckamore]

Hello Chief,

Welcome to the Pain Mangement Forum. I am so sorry to hear about the non-healing wound. It must be terribly annoying to say nothing about the discomfort.

I think you have consulted all the right specialists. It's sad that they have no better answers than to "live with it." The only suggestion I can offer it to consult another round of specialists. I am far from a physician and there are none on this forum. I believe that our suggestions will only be based on personal experience.  

There must be a reason for this wound's failure to respond to treatment. Are you a diabetic or do you have circulatory issues? Usually if the underlying condition is resolved, controlled or treated the wound will heal. Can you share with us the reasons they are giving you for it's inability to heal?

My grandmother had a would that would not heal due to her diabetes many years ago. Her home-town rural physician ordered her to apply an orange peel to the wound and cover it. Believe it or not it healed the wound. I would NOT suggest that you do this. However I thought this was interesting and you may want to discuss this old remedy with your physician.

I have also heard of wounds that were difficult to heal responding to oxygen therapy applied three or four times a day. It's treatment you may want to discuss with your physician. But when all is said and done it depends greatly on the cause or reason for the non-healing as well as the type of wound. Is this an infection of your bone, called osteomyelitis? An osteomyelitis in rare cases can be chronic and simply does not respond to conventional treatments.  

I am sorry that I cannot be of assistance. However I encourage you to seek second, third or fourth opinions. In this day and age of treatment advancements there must be something that could help. Gone are the days of orange peelings. I assume you have to treat the wound daily and monitor it closely. Does it cause you pain?

Please let us know how you are doing. You may want to post this in other forums that may have better suggestions. I'll do a quick search and see if I can find a forum geared more towards wound care.

Best of luck to you. Feel free to ask additional questions.

Peace,
~Tuck