A
chronic wound is a
wound that does not heal in an orderly set of stages and in a predictable amount of time the way most wounds do; wounds that do not heal within three months are often considered chronic. Chronic wounds seem to be detained in one or more of the
phases of wound healing. For example, chronic wounds often remain in the
inflammatory stage for too long. In acute wounds, there is a precise balance between production and degradation of
molecules such as
collagen; in chronic wounds this balance is lost and degradation plays too large a role.