How are pressure sores graded?
Pressure sores are graded to four levels, including: grade I – skin discolouration, usually red, blue, purple or black. grade II – some skin loss or damage involving the top-most skin layers. grade III – necrosis (death) or damage to the skin patch, limited to the skin layers.
What are the 4 grades of pressure sores?
The skin may not be broken at first, but if the pressure ulcer gets worse, it can form: an open wound or blister – a category 2 pressure ulcer. a deep wound that reaches the deeper layers of the skin – a category 3 pressure ulcer. a very deep wound that may reach the muscle and bone – a category 4 pressure ulcer.
What does a grade 2 pressure sore look like?
At stage 2, the skin breaks open, wears away, or forms an ulcer, which is usually tender and painful. The sore expands into deeper layers of the skin. It can look like a scrape (abrasion), blister, or a shallow crater in the skin. Sometimes this stage looks like a blister filled with clear fluid.
What is a Grade 1 pressure sore?
A grade 1 pressure ulcer is the most superficial type of ulcer. The affected area of skin appears discoloured – it is red in white people, and purple or blue in people with darker-coloured skin. Grade 1 pressure ulcers do not turn white when pressure is placed on them. The skin remains intact, but it may hurt or itch.
What does Stage 4 of a pressure ulcer look like?
Characterized by severe tissue damage, a stage 4 bedsore is the largest and deepest of all bedsore stages. They look like reddish craters in the skin, and muscles, bones, and/or tendons may be visible at the bottom of the sore.
What is a Grade 3 pressure sore?
Stage 3 bedsores (also known as stage 3 pressure sores, pressure injuries, or decubitus ulcers) are deep and painful wounds in the skin. They are the third of four bedsore stages. These sores develop when a stage 2 bedsore penetrates past the top layers of skin but has yet not reached muscle or bone.
What is a bedsore look like?
Symptoms: The sore looks like a crater and may have a bad odor. It may show signs of infection: red edges, pus, odor, heat, and/or drainage. The tissue in or around the sore is black if it has died.
What does Stage 3 pressure ulcer look like?
Stage 3. These sores have gone through the second layer of skin into the fat tissue. Symptoms: The sore looks like a crater and may have a bad odor. It may show signs of infection: red edges, pus, odor, heat, and/or drainage.
What is a Grade 4 wound?
Grade 4 ulcers can extend into the muscle and/or supporting structures (eg fascia, tendon or joint capsule). Moisture Lesions. • Redness or partial thickness skin loss involving the epidermis, dermis or both caused by excessive moisture to the skin from urine, faeces or sweat.