Gout is an internal disease that rarely requires surgical intervention.
However, this patient's gout nodules are not only numerous but also large. Several of them have stretched the skin until it ruptures, forming a long unhealed wound. At this point, without surgical intervention, the wound is almost impossible to heal.
The gout nodules are filled with uric acid crystals. Human tissue eroded by uric acid crystals hampers the healing ability of such wounds, sometimes rendering them unhealable. Even with surgery, the possibility of the wounds not healing and constantly oozing remains.
Gout progressing to this stage is usually due to a patient's lack of attention to the condition.
Some patients believe gout is not worth treating. They think as the condition sometimes is painful and sometimes is not. Times it hurts are fewer than times it doesn't. They feel normal when it doesn't hurt, so they see no urgency in treatment.
