The extraordinary statistics that reflect Crescel’s barrier-breaking ability to heal chronic wounds translate to an unimaginably powerful impact on the lives of individual patients. This goes well beyond the obvious of eliminating the risks of infection, possible amputation, and early death. Crescel restores their ability to live a normal life and do the things they love—a life that had appeared to be lost forever. This priceless gift cannot be measured by numbers.

The American College of Surgeons profiles the profound patient impact of a nonhealing wound. In addition to living with intense chronic stress from the constant threat of a potentially fatal infection, daily life is a continual struggle with pain, loss of function and mobility, increased social stress, isolation, depression, hospitalizations, financial burdens, and further deterioration of health. Crescel’s unparalleled ability to heal chronic wounds enables these patients to leave all of this suffering and deprivation behind.

One of these deeply grateful individuals is Janet P., a 68-year-old diabetic woman who, luckily, had eventually become a patient of Mark Dreyer, DPM. Dr. Dreyer is board-certified in wound management, in addition to both podiatry and foot and ankle surgery. Healing challenging wounds is one of his long-standing passions. His focused preparation for cutting-edge expertise in treating challenging wounds began with his 3-year surgical residency and continued with a fellowship in advanced wound healing. Before moving to private practice, Dr. Dreyer was a Navy officer who brought his rare combination of skills in restoring lower limb health to help military members and their families in New England. He was also affiliated with a teaching hospital there and, in addition, worked at Newport Hospital’s Vanderbilt Wound Care Center.

Janet became Dr. Dreyer’s patient in December, 2023, roughly one year before he learned of Crescel Skin Renewal Cream. She had come to him with a 6-month-old chronic wound on her right shin (see photo below) that had turned her life into a living hell, leaving her virtually housebound, frighteningly vulnerable to infection, and in constant severe pain. On July 10th that year, a serious insect bite while she was gardening—most likely the venomous brown recluse spider—set off the collision of multiple factors. She was bitten in the area that had been transformed years earlier by two cancer surgeries in late 2009 (to fully remove a rare and aggressive tumor of bone cartilage and surrounding soft tissue) followed by 6 weeks of intensive targeted radiation in early 2010. Radiation impairs the skin’s basic wound-healing processes, intensified by Janet’s high dose and exacerbated further by the vascular damage due to diabetes. This diabetic damage also makes any wound highly susceptible to both infection and chronicity. Fortunately, the area had healed despite these challenges—until now. The spider’s necrotic venom in this fragile area of Janet’s shin almost immediately generated intense itching and discomfort, and she woke the next day to an open wound and blackening skin that worsened rapidly. At Urgent Care several days later, Janet was diagnosed with a methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA) infected wound. It did not respond to treatment, and in August she began her first round of formal wound care. It would last for 2 months.

Janet refers to this as “two months of medieval torture.” Using a Wound Vac (a vacuum-like suction pump that encourages the formation of new tissue by removing excess fluid and debris, promoting circulation, and pulling the wound edges together) revealed further problems from her previous cancer treatment. One involved a metal clip that had been inserted during surgery. It broke during a Wound Vac procedure, further intensifying Janet’s pain. The other was radiation-induced bone calcification that had grown into the wound area, a complication that returned after every removal. Janet was forbidden to shower or bathe while recovering from each Wound Vac procedure. Both superficial and deep debridement procedures—removing dead, damaged, infected tissue—to promote healing were excruciating, and worsened her wound. Some of the numerous antibiotics that Janet was given had to be discontinued, “and even the easier ones took their toll,” Janet recalls. A 5-day hospital stint failed to create a successful pain management regimen. “By mid-October my daily pain had become unbearable,” Janet recalls. “The wound-care doctor proposed a surgical procedure for putting an end to it, and I agreed. And then a cardiac event forced the surgery to be substantially postponed!” In the meantime, Janet underwent several more superficial debridements that only worsened her wound, and she rejected another deep debridement. During this entire time, she did her best to get out of the house for some movement when she felt up to it, occasionally even including the weekly painting class she loves. But for the most part, Janet’s intense pain kept her homebound except for her multiple doctors’ visits.

Then “in December, 2023—after months of hell— I learned of Dr. Dreyer,” Janet says, and she became his patient. His highly supportive behavior with patients was a deeply welcome change, and he had a number of new options to try. Again, some of them required extended periods without baths or showers. After confirming that the Wound Vac would not help, Dr. Dreyer treated Janet with skin grafts (involving major fights for insurance coverage); hyperbaric oxygen; and collagen dressings derived from placental skin (providing a scaffold that attracts skin cells, and multiple supports for new skin growth). But at best she experienced minimal improvement, and the radiation-caused calcifications continued to interfere. Janet and Dr. Dreyer eventually acknowledged that they had exhausted all options, and he asked her to check in with him periodically to keep an eye on her wound and clean it out. She ended 2024 with a check-in visit to Dr. Dreyer, marking a full year after she had become his patient. “By then I had given up all hope of freedom from this pain, and regaining a normal and satisfying life,” Janet shares.

And then on January 8, 2025, Janet received an unexpected call from Dr. Dreyer. She didn’t know it yet, but her life was about to change—and change radically. Dr. Dreyer had just received his first supply of Crescel Skin Renewal Cream, and designated it for Janet. What he had learned about its ability to heal severe untreatable wounds renewed his hope for her.

Shortly after this call, Janet began applying Crescel twice daily. “The first thing that I noticed was no pain!” she exults. And the unbearable sensitivity of the skin surrounding the wound had disappeared. “I could touch my skin again.” And the wound itself was closing. “Crescel was working! I was over the moon about how quickly it made a difference,” Janet remembers. “And with no side effects! And I suddenly realized—I felt normal again!” Janet has now resumed the activities she relishes, including hiking, going to the beach, travel to visit family, and attending her painting class every week. The one pleasure that still awaits clearance is going into the water when she’s at the beach. Janet is moved to tears as she recounts the priceless gift that Crescel has given her. She is just one of the extraordinary human stories behind the statistics.