You should be seen by a wound care specialist if you have:

• A wound on your lower legs, feet, or toes — especially if you have diabetes, cardiovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease, venous insufficiency, neuropathy, or paralysis

• A wound that is getting larger, deeper, or worsening despite treatment

• Spontaneous wounds caused by weeping legs, lymphedema, or edema

• A surgical wound that has reopened, dehisced, or never fully closed

• A deep wound that cannot be repaired with sutures

• First or second-degree burns

• A wound from an accident, trauma, fall, or motor vehicle incident that is not healing as expected

If you're unsure whether your wound needs specialist attention — it probably does.

Initial visits typically last about 1 hour.

We perform a thorough history and physical. This includes reviewing your treatment goals and a head to toe physical with a separate assessment of your wound. After this we clean and anesthetize the wound area with topical lidocaine.

Following this we perform a debridement of the wound and then we apply technologically advanced dressings specific to you and your wounds needs.

We close our visit with questions, education, and a review of the care plan we made together.

We typically see patients once a week for a follow up visit lasting about 30 minutes.

These visits include a more focused physical exam, reassessment of the wounds, a debridement, and redressing the wound.

We determine if dressings or treatments need to be modified. We discuss questions, concerns, follow up with test results, and review any educational points.

Frequency of visits can be modified as needed. Mutually agreed upon by both the provider and patient/family following review of risks/benefit.

The truth is, we don't know. Sometimes wounds can resolve after 1 or 2 treatments, sometimes they last for decades.

There are many variables which factor into how long it takes a wound to heal. These range from things within our control, like patient compliance, and those out of our control, like advanced disease.

As a reference, the average diabetic foot wound takes a minimum of 12 weeks to heal once advanced wound care is initiated.

Please note this list is updated continually. If you do not see your insurance carrier please contact the office at 413-512-5111 to discuss our participation with your healthcare plan.

Masshealth, Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross, Brigham Mass General, Fallon, Tufts