Home Wound Monitoring
Structured checking of a wound at home, with photo review by our team between clinic visits.
Key Takeaways
- Wounds change between visits, and early changes are the ones that matter most.
- Families can be trained to check and photograph a wound reliably.
- Photo review on WhatsApp catches deterioration without waiting for the next appointment.
- Monitoring supports clinic care, it does not replace physical examination.
Why Monitor at Home?
Because a fortnightly appointment leaves thirteen unobserved days in between. Wounds deteriorate quickly in diabetes, and a change noticed on day two rather than day twelve genuinely alters the outcome. Additionally, many of our patients are elderly or travel from outside Surat, so unnecessary trips are a real burden.
What Should Families Look For?
- Wound size, whether it is shrinking or spreading
- Colour of the wound base, healthy pink against grey or black
- Amount and smell of discharge
- Redness or swelling spreading around the wound
- Skin temperature compared with the other foot
- Any new blister, crack or callus nearby
How Should Wound Photos Be Taken?
Good photographs make remote review reliable. Use daylight where possible, hold the camera about thirty centimetres away, and place a coin or scale beside the wound so size can be judged. Take one close view and one wider view showing the whole foot. Send after the dressing is removed and the area gently cleaned.
What Are the Limits of Remote Monitoring?
A photograph shows the surface. It cannot reveal depth, probe to bone or detect a deep collection, and it cannot assess circulation. Therefore any concerning photo leads to a clinic appointment rather than a remote prescription, and scheduled reviews continue as planned through our wound management service.
Is There a Cost, and What Should You Expect?
Photo review for patients already under our care forms part of the follow up service, so there is no separate fee. Detailed formal teleconsultations are charged at published consultation rates.
Expect a reply during clinic hours rather than instantly, and expect us to call you in when a photo raises concern. Monitoring shortens the gap between a problem starting and treatment beginning, which is exactly where diabetic feet are lost or saved.