Nanomedicine in Healing Chronic Wounds: Opportunities and Challenges

The poor healing associated with chronic wounds affects millions of people worldwide through high mortality rates and associated costs. Chronic wounds present three main problems: First, the absence of a suitable environment to facilitate cell migration, proliferation, and angiogenesis; second, bacterial infection; and third, unbalanced and prolonged inflammation. Unfortunately, current therapeutic approaches have not been able to overcome these main issues and, therefore, have limited clinical success. Over the past decade, incorporating the unique advantages of nanomedicine into wound healing approaches has yielded promising outcomes. Nanomedicine is capable of stimulating various cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the wound microenvironment via antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and angiogenetic effects, potentially reversing the wound microenvironment from nonhealing to healing. This review briefly discusses wound healing mechanisms and pathophysiology and then highlights recent findings regarding the opportunities and challenges of using nanomedicine in chronic wound management.

Automated summary

Chronic wounds pose challenges due to poor healing, bacterial infection, and inflammation imbalance. Current therapies have limitations, but nanomedicine offers promise by stimulating cellular and molecular mechanisms in the wound microenvironment. Incorporating nanomedicine into chronic wound management may provide opportunities for improved outcomes.