Leprosy tertiary prevention
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: João André Alves Silva, M.D. [2]
Overview
After treatment has been initiated, other measures to minimize further damage to the patient include: education of the individual and family members to monitor and treat skin ulcers and other lesions, primary care facilities to provide help to the populations and to direct patients to a specialist, whenever necessary.[1]
Tertiary Prevention
Once multidrug treatment has been started, significant nerve damage may still occur, particularly in multibacillary cases. Education of the population to prevent further damage, monitor and provide basic treatment should be emphasized. Once the damage has been established, it is important to minimize its impact on the lives of the populations. For this, important measures may be applied, including:[1]
Home self-care
- Activities that individuals may perform at their homes, individually or with assistance of family members, such as wound dressing of the hands or feet, minimizing further damage
- Performing self-examination to detect unknown areas of lesion
Interventions and education at the local clinic
- Direct education of patients to treat their lesions, prevent further damages and identify early symptoms, that should direct them to seek medical attention
- Educate about protective footwear and orthotics
- Identify problems that may need specialist intervention
- Provide basic care and monitoring of skin ulcers and sequelae of the disease
Specialist intervention
- Assistance of patients with acute eye problems
- Debridement of infected areas
- Surgery in required cases