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Dr. Juan J. Lima, MD is an adolescent medicine doctor in Coral Gables, FL specializing in adolescent medicine and pediatric emergency medicine. He graduated from Central University of the East School of Medicine. Dr. Juan J. Lima, MD is affiliated with West Boca Medical Center, Palm Beach Health Network and St. Mary's Medical Center - SMH.
5955 Ponce De Leon Boulevard
Coral Gables, FL 33146
Asthma
Asthma is a chronic lung disease where the tissue and airways of the lungs become extremely sensitive to certain substances. When these substances are breathed in, the lungs become inflamed. The muscles around the airways tighten and squeeze the lungs, and passages within the lungs swell and tighten. The airways themselves produce mucus, which further clogs the tightened, swollen airways. A person having an asthma attack finds it very difficult to breathe, and a severe attack can even be fatal.
Asthma affects people of all ages, but people with asthma are most often diagnosed as children. Symptoms can include wheezing, a tight feeling in the chest, shortness of breath, and coughing. Some people have mild symptoms all the time, and some people have no symptoms at all, but everyone with asthma is susceptible to occasional severe attacks or flare-ups of symptoms when they are exposed to triggers. Triggers vary widely but can include:
Treatment for most asthma patients involves three steps. Patients learn what their asthma triggers are and avoid them. They take a daily control medication, usually an inhaled corticosteroid, to reduce inflammation in the lungs. Also, they have rescue medication with them at all times to take in case of a severe attack. These quick-acting inhaled medications relax the muscles around the airways and allow the lungs to open up for air.
There is no cure for asthma, but with treatment it should not interfere with daily life and activities.
Debridement (Removal of Unhealthy Tissue)
Debridement is a procedure that removes damaged skin to help the body heal a chronic wound, acute injury, or burn. Several layers of skin surrounding a chronic wound can include foreign debris, dead (necrotic) tissue, infected tissue, and calloused (hyperkeratotic) skin. If left untreated, these damaged skin layers can spread infection to other parts of the body and may aggravate the wound and delay its healing.
Debriding (removing) this damaged and diseased skin encourages the growth of healthy new tissue, impeding infection by triggering the body's natural cycle of tissue renewal. For this reason, debridement functions both as a wound treatment and as a preventative measure against more complex consequences of infected skin, such as sepsis and amputation. In some circumstances, debridement provides additional aesthetic benefits such as decreased scarring. Debridement also permits doctors to retrieve tissue samples for testing, such as to determine whether patients need antibiotic treatment.
Wounds that frequently require debridement include:
Debridement can be performed either surgically or nonsurgically; some methods are less invasive than others. Doctors select the appropriate debridement technique by considering the location, cause, and size of a patient's wound and may also weigh the patient's overall wellbeing, age, and risk of infection.
Surgical debridement is performed by cutting away dead, infected, and hyperkeratotic skin with a surgical scalpel. For deep wounds that tear away the skin and go into the muscle, skin from another region of a patient's body may be grafted onto the wound, which may then be periodically assessed and rebandaged until fully healed.
Non-surgical debridement is achieved with water or a dissolvent gel. Water softens the damaged skin and affected tissue, allowing doctors to remove it with wet-to-dry dressing. When wet tissue dries, it adheres to the dry dressing or bandage and comes off when the dressing is pulled away. In contrast, dissolvent gel deconstructs tissue, which can be cleaned off of the wound. Nonsurgical debridement is less invasive than surgical techniques; however, it can entail repeat treatments, slowing wound recovery.
While the prospect of stripping away skin may seem jarring, debridement can be critical to the treatment and healing of wounds which cannot not heal independently.
Dr. Juan J. Lima, MD graduated from Central University of the East School of Medicine. He completed residency at Miami Children's Hospital. He has a state license in Florida.
Medical School: Central University of the East School of Medicine
Residency: Miami Children's Hospital
Licensed In: Florida
Dr. Juan J. Lima, MD is associated with these hospitals and organizations:
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Dr. Juan Lima's areas of specialization are pediatric emergency medicine and adolescent medicine. He is conversant in Spanish. His clinical interests include strains, wound repair (e.g. stitches), and abscess drainage. Dr. Lima is professionally affiliated with Palm Beach Health Network and West Boca Medical Center. He graduated from Central University of the East School of Medicine. Dr. Lima's medical residency was performed at Miami Children's Hospital.