How does obesity affect wound healing?

Obesity increases the risk of infection after surgery, and being overweight can put tension on stitches, which can make them break open. Obesity is also one of the risk factors for venous ulcers.

There are two specific effects rather than a general one, and the specificity is useful. Obesity is one of the factors that can prevent wounds from healing or slow the process. It increases the risk of infection after surgery. Being overweight can also put tension on stitches, which can make them break open.

Both of those are about surgical wounds: infection risk after an operation, and mechanical strain on a closed incision. That is narrower than the way the subject is usually discussed.

In other wounds, weight is one factor among several rather than a verdict. Obesity is one of the risk factors for venous ulcers, alongside varicose veins, a history of blood clots in the legs, blockage of the lymph vessels, older age, being female or tall, family history, pregnancy, smoking, long periods of sitting or standing, and serious leg injuries. In self-care advice for venous ulcers, ischemic ulcers and pressure sores alike, losing weight if you are overweight appears in the same list as quitting smoking, controlling blood sugar if you have diabetes, exercising as much as you can, eating healthy foods, getting plenty of sleep, and managing blood pressure and cholesterol.

That context is worth keeping. A list of ten contributing factors is a different thing from a single cause, and wounds that are slow to heal usually have more than one reason behind them. Working out which reasons apply is one of the jobs of a wound care team: to determine why the wound is not healing.

There is no set weight, target or timescale to reach before a wound can be treated. The measures above may improve blood flow and aid healing in someone who already has a wound. They are offered alongside treatment rather than as a condition of it.

What to watch for

Contact your provider right away if a wound has come open, or the stitches or staples have come out too soon. That is the complication linked to obesity above, so it is the one this page points to directly.

Also contact a provider about signs of infection: redness, increased pain, or yellow or green pus, or excessive clear fluid around the injury.

Don’t wait to lose weight before having a wound treated. A wound that is not healing is a reason to be seen now.

Wound Wizard is general education and cannot assess your wound or your situation. Your own clinician is the right person to ask.

What we look at

  • Determining why the wound is not healing
  • Examining and measuring the wound
  • Identifying which contributing factors can be changed
  • Arranging support such as nutrition or physical therapy

Sources

  1. How wounds heal — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000741.htm
  2. Venous ulcers - self-care — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000744.htm
  3. Wound care centers — MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000739.htm