Chronic skin ulcers and sinus fistulas

  Skin ulcers are sores that form due to various causes of skin defects on the body surface. Depending on the healing time of the sore, there are acute and chronic skin ulcers. It is generally believed that a sore healing time of more than 2 weeks is a chronic skin ulcer, and more than 4 weeks is a chronic refractory skin ulcer. Chronic skin ulcers belong to the category of “stubborn sores”, “polyposis” and “sores” in Chinese medicine, which is equivalent to chronic hard-to-heal wounds in Western medicine. The disease can be divided into vascular ulcers (arterial occlusive sclerosis, varicose veins), chemical ulcers, radioactive ulcers, pressure ulcers, neurotrophic ulcers, diabetic ulcers, venomous snake bite ulcers, post-burn scar ulcers, etc.  A sinus tract is a pathologically blind duct that leads from deep tissue to the body surface and usually has only one external opening, but when the duct is branched, it can have multiple external openings. A fistula is a pathological duct that connects the body surface to a visceral cavity or between a visceral cavity and a visceral cavity. Complex sinus tracts or fistulas mainly refer to sinus tracts or fistulas adjacent to important organs or bones that are not suitable for surgical reopening, or connected to organs, and the ducts are either curved or narrowed at the outer end and expanded into a lumen at the inner end, or have a long length, or have a long course of disease that has not healed after multiple treatments. Sinus tracts and fistulas belong to the category of “leakage” in Chinese medicine. The disease can be classified as congenital or acquired.  The internal causes of chronic skin ulcers and sinus fistulas are mostly due to imbalance of yin and yang, imbalance of internal organs, deficiency of positive qi, stagnation of qi and blood channels, and susceptibility to invasion by external evil; external causes are mostly due to invasion by six evil poisons and special poisons (various animal bites, drugs, rays, severe burns, etc.), persistent sores that do not heal for a long time, or canker sores that are not treated, or residual poisonous foreign bodies in the sores after surgery, causing imbalance of yin and yang, internal organs, stagnation of qi and blood in the ying and guanxi, and evil turbidity There is an interaction of the causative factors “deficiency, stasis and decay”. Among them, “deficiency and stasis” is the main cause and “decay” is the symptom. In the formation and development of chronic skin ulcers and sinus fistulas, “deficiency, stasis, and decay” are pathogenic factors and pathological products, and although they are in different positions in the pathological process, they may become the main conflict at a certain stage and may run through the whole process of disease development. Generally speaking, “decay” plays a major role in the early stage of the disease, while “deficiency” often determines the degree of development of “stasis” and “decay”. The “deficiency” often determines the degree of development of “stasis” and “rot”, and is the inevitable result and main contradiction of the late stage of chronic skin ulcers and sinus fistula, while “stasis” is often present throughout the development of the disease.  Traditional Chinese medicine treatment of skin ulcers in the treatment method focus on “lifting pus to get rid of rot”, “simmering pus to grow flesh”, focus on “removing rot to create muscle”, Li Jing as the representative of the scholars believe that The scholars, represented by Li Jing, believe that the removal of “rot” can produce muscle, which is not only applicable to acute skin ulcers, but also to chronic skin ulcers; scholars, represented by Tang Hanjun, believe that acute skin ulcers with short duration and acute conditions can be treated by the method of “removing rot and producing muscle”, but chronic skin ulcers, with prolonged duration, have the problem of “prolonged disease will produce muscle”. However, in chronic skin ulcers, the disease is prolonged and there is a condition of “deficiency and stasis in long-standing disease”, so the new muscle cannot grow quickly after lifting pus and removing decay. Therefore, based on the method of “removing decay”, we need to apply the method of “tonifying deficiency and removing stasis” to make the new muscle grow.  Chronic skin ulcers and sinus fistulas seriously affect the quality of life and work of patients and are prone to recurrence, and there is a risk of cancer if chronic skin ulcers remain untreated.