Causes of and Coping Strategies for Repeated Wounds in Patients with Hansen's Disease until Promin Treatment

Abstract

Purpose: To clarify why patients with Hansen's disease have repeated wounds and how they coped with these wounds until Promin treatment.
Method: Narrative data were obtained from 10 survivors of Hansen's disease and were analyzed using a qualitative and inductive method.
Results: The loss of pain sensation that serves as a caution against wounding and having to work owing to poverty were found to easily induce wounds; further, the poor medical system and hygiene, lack of infrastructure, and superstition contributed to deteriorating wounds, thereby creating a negative spiral for worsening wounds, leaving patients feeling that they had a collapsed and disfigured body. Patients thought that non-aggressive treatment could not cure perennial wounds and they tended to obtain primitive care strategies. Owing to poverty, they had to treat most wounds themselves, except for severe wounds. Further, patients opted for amputation easily because they had to work to sustain themselves and their family and they felt that the amputation would cure the disease. Patients who lost their eyesight did not undergo amputation because they were unable to work.
Discussion: The poor medical system and hygiene were among the several causes of overlapping severe disabilities among patients with Hansen's disease.