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Abstract
Regarded as a silent epidemic, chronic wounds are a global public health issue. Wound healing is a complex, synchronized cascade of physiological processes restoring the anatomic and functional integrity of the skin; however, chronic wounds fail to proceed through the wound healing cascade. Wound pH oscillates during wound healing, usually traversing from a neutral pH to an acidic pH, while chronic wounds perpetuate in an elevated alkaline milieu. Although a neglected clinical parameter, pH has implications for relatively all pathologies of wound healing affecting oxygen release, angiogenesis, protease activity, bacterial toxicity and antimicrobial activity. Despite the array of wound healing products currently marketed, understanding the implications of pH on arresting wound healing can stimulate innovation within this vast market.
Author contributions
LA Wallace designed the review, collated the articles, analyzed and interpreted the articles for inclusion in the review and wrote the review. L Gwynne aided in drafting of the review and revised the manuscript critically. ATA Jenkins is supervisor of LA Wallace and L Gwynne and granted final approval of the manuscript to be published.
Acknowledgments
L Gwynne would like to thank the GW4 BIOMED DTP (MR/N0137941/1) and ATA Jenkins would like to thank EPSRC (EP/R0003939/1) for grant awards.
Financial & competing intersts disclosure
LA Wallace receives funding from Paul Hartmann AG. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.