Granulox
®
haemoglobin spray
Case report 4
This patient was a 49-year-old
female who smoked roll-up
cigarettes but was in otherwise
general good health. She had
sustained two traumatic wounds
through using acid treatment to
reduce the hard skin on her heels —
she then self-treated with plasters
which stripped off a layer of skin
when removed.
Even though the wounds
themselves were only a couple of
millimetres deep and there was no
clinical infection, they were painful
on walking and even when the
patient supported her calf with a
pillow she still experienced shooting
pain (scoring ‘11’ on a scale of 1–10,
with ‘10’ being the worst pain). She
was taking tramadol, paracetamol
and ibuprofen every four hours
(eight of each tablet per day),
which constituted a large dose
of painkillers.
When she was first seen, she was
setting her alarm to wake herself
up at night to ensure that she took
her pain medication regularly. Her
dressings (Mepilex; Mölnlycke
Health Care) were being changed
on a Monday and Thursday in a
dedicated woundcare clinic, and at
each treatment a podiatrist would
clean the wounds with saline.
However, this also caused a great
deal of pain.
Starting on Granulox
®
Granulox was selected as the previous
dressing had stuck to the wound
slightly, and it was felt the liquid
nature of Granulox might prevent
some of this sticking as well as
promoting healing. Similarly, patient
experience suggested that Granulox
reduced pain, which in this case could
have helped to reduce the amount of
painkillers the patient was taking.
It was decided to start treatment with
Granulox on 16 June, 2014. At this
point the right heel wound measured
24x78mm, while the left heel
measured 22x77mm.
The right heel wound achieved
complete closure in eight weeks after
16 applications of Granulox. The use
of Granulox also helped to reduce the
pain that this patient was experiencing
(she now reported pain as being ‘4’on
a scale of 1–10, where 10 was the worst
pain). The tissue within the wound bed
also dried up and was replaced with
normal epidermal growth.
The left heel wound reduced in size
from 22x77mm on 16 June, 2014,
to 11x46mm on 11 August, 2014
(a reduction of 73%) following 17
Granulox treatments. The fragile-
looking red granulation tissue had
started to dry up and the patient was
experiencing far less wound pain.
Figure 5.
On 3 July, 2014 showing reduced
maceration at the wound edges.
Figure 4.
On 19 June, 2014 three days after
starting treatment with Granulox.
Figure 2.
On 3 July, 2014 showing reduced
maceration at the wound edges.
Figure 6.
At the time of writing the left heel had
not completely healed and treatment
with Granulox was continuing.
Figure 1.
On 19 June, 2014 three days after
starting treatment with Granulox.
Figure 6.
On 11 August, 2014, the wound
had resolved.
5
Right heel
Left heel
This case presents two traumatic heel
wounds that were causing the patient
considerable pain — to the extent
that she had to set an alarm to wake
during the night to take painkillers.
Granulox helped to reduce the number
of painkillers being taken and promote
epithelialisation after 17 applications.
