Expert underpins ‘self-healing’ of wounds

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

A “conservative way” of treating wounds has found its way back in the past five years and an Emirati plastic surgeon with his colleagues at the Gulf Wound Management Association (GWMA) are now into it.

This conservative way, according to Dr. Marwan Al Zarouni, in the field of plastic surgery since the last five years, is the “self-healing of open wounds” from any form of accident.

The self-healing of wounds happens with “a little bit of pain,” said the GWMA president on Thursday.

Al Zarouni was interviewed on the sidelines of the opening ceremonies of the ongoing two-day “2nd Gulf Wound Management Conference” at the Roda Al Bustan Hotel in Dubai.

Al Zarouni is the president of the conference organised by the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Awards for Medical Sciences.

Gulf Today asked about this “conservative treatment” when the Gulf Burns Society chairman mentioned of a wheelchair-bound octogenarian diabetic lady who had sought his advice and treatment for pain on one of her big toes.

“She said she was my patient many years back,” Al Zarouni said, adding that when he checked on what the patient was complaining about, taking into consideration her claims of “kidney failure,” the only recourse was to apply the conservative treatment—the thorough, mindful and careful cleaning of the “infected full raw area.”

The patient’s wound was healed in three months.

Al Zarouni said: “We need to promote this (conservative) self-healing process of the body. We believe that God created our body to heal (at its perfect time). The body can take care of it. But we have to create the right environment.”

Pursued on the “right environment,” he explained: “You see the wound consists of dust, dirt and bacteria. We have (to remove all these).”

Al Zarouni also underscored the significance of pain emanating from the wound.

“We need a little pain. Like in the levels of one to 10 with 10 being the highest, at what range is your pain. For me, if it were below five, I advise the patient to endure it. If it were five and above, I would recommend some medications,” Al Zarouni said.

“But, pain is also important in self-healing because the cells do not have eyes. For example, there is a cut or a wound on my finger, the nerves (will direct the other un-injured cells to the wounded part from which the pain comes from and these would be the ones working for the restoration or healing of that specific wound),” he continued.