Re: Medial Wall Breakdown

Posted by george boyer on November 19, 19102 at 18:23:55:

In Reply to: Medial Wall Breakdown posted by kevin on November 19, 19102 at 12:22:00:

Kevin - be more specific about the difficulty. About a year ago (I'm now ten years an LAK) I began having serious trouble with an infected hair follicle, medial side of my stump, just below the socket brim......medication and staying off the limb didn't work so finally the surgeon excised the lesion and the problem was cured. The medial aspect of an AK stump, proximally, is vulnerable to this sort of thing so it is really important to learn how to adjust the skin tension when donning the limb. An additional move which is sometimes desirable is 'fingering in' a small bit of vaseline to ensure that the skin there is free of harmful tension. Not so much as to be messy, but just enough to allow the skin to 'self-adjust', so to speak.
Another thing which has occasioned comment recently is the use of powder to facilitate donning, the question being 'how much'? And the answer is 'as little as possible' since the slightest film is enough to break the 'clinging' which hampers entry of the stump into the socket as the "pull-sock" is removed. Of course the stump has to be quite air-dry....one shouldn't depend on powder to absorb moisture when donning: after a few minutes in the socket the natural moisture of respiration sets up the conditions for the stump-in-socket equilibrium. (Sounds kind of wordy but I think it says what I'm trying to say.)

Kevin wrote:
Anyone have a problem with their skin breaking down on the medial wall of their socket? And if so what have you done to relieve the problem if ever possible modification has been done to the socket by the prosthetist.

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