 | | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
 CHICAGO (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Gary Bennett is lucky to be back on his bike after spending almost a year in severe pain. A rare disease called vasculitis caused painful wounds on Bennett's legs -- 22 of them!
"The pain was excruciating," Bennett says. "I couldn't lay a sheet on it. I'm dead serious. I couldn't let a sheet on the bed lay on my legs."
Text Continues Below
But vasculitis treatment was even more painful. Doctors used a scalpel to scrape away dead and infected skin.
"I've never had pain like that before. I guess the best way I can describe it is having a tooth pulled without any Novocain or numbing procedure," Bennett says.
 Then, podiatrist David Armstrong, D.P.M., M.Sc., of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago, told him about a less painful way to clean out just about any type of wound.
"It's not what you put on these wounds that heals them. It's what you take off," Dr. Armstrong tells Ivanhoe.
The ultrasonic scalpel uses ultrasound waves to clear skin of bacteria and remove infected tissue -- all without touching the wound! It lets more antibiotics reach the problem spot, so there's quicker healing.
Dr. Armstrong says, "It's dramatically reduced pain and reduced the risk for infection."
 The ultrasonic scalpel can be used on patients with almost any type of severe wound. The procedure is available at a couple-dozen centers around the country, but Dr. Armstrong expects more to adopt the technology soon.
After eight weeks with the ultrasonic scalpel, Bennett's pain is gone." I can't even describe the difference," he says. With his wounds gone, he says he has a lot of road to explore.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Jamie Drissel
Center for Lower Extremity Ambulatory Research
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
3333 Green Bay Road
North Chicago, IL 60064
(847) 578-8426
jamie.drissel@rosalindfranklin.edu
|
.gif)
