Complex Wound Clinic at Harbor

About Chronic Wounds

Chronic wounds affect approximately 2.5% of the U.S. population with Medicare expenditures estimated to be 28.5 to 96.1 billion dollars annually. Non-healing wounds are often complex with multifactorial etiology. Due to the pain, psychosocial distress, and physical disability of chronic wounds, these patients suffer a significant impact on their quality of life. Patients with “hard-to-heal” wounds report moderate quality of life (QoL score: 52.18±25.07) and satisfaction (satisfaction score: 68.91±23.88), according to a descriptive cross-sectional study. Another study showed that patients with chronic wounds have the lowest health-related quality of life scores in domains related to physical role and physical functioning, with outcomes being especially poor for patients with wound-related amputations.   

Purpose and Background

Founded in 2024 by Dr. Lulu Wong-Jensen, the Complex Wound Clinic at Harbor-UCLA is a monthly clinic aimed at addressing complex wounds through a multidisciplinary and multi-modality approach. Combining medical therapies with advanced medical and surgical bedside procedures, we focus on personalized patient care to treat this complex disease. 

Complex wound patients are evaluated and treated in the monthly wound care clinic.  Diagnostic and therapeutic care is offered for the management of chronic refractory wounds that are failing conventional therapies.  Coordination of care is especially important for patients with challenging living circumstances, and access to wound care supplies is optimized.