Managing exudate and preventing biofilms in community wound care

Problems with exudate production occur if the wound becomes ‘stuck’ in the inflammatory stage and the production of exudate is overstimulated. Exudate found in chronic wounds (those that fail to heal after six weeks) has a different makeup to that in acute wounds and is often produced in higher quantities. Chronic wound exudate does not have the active growth factors found in acute wound exudate and it can actually block the healing process, destroy the extracellular matrix (ECM) and become a ‘wounding agent’ itself, causing more damage than healing (Chen et al, 1992).