Pressure Injury Staging & Prevention

Pressure injuries are staged by tissue depth: Stage 1 (intact skin, non-blanchable redness — pressing the area doesn't cause it to whiten), Stage 2 (partial-thickness loss with a shallow, pink wound bed or intact/ruptured blister), Stage 3 (full-thickness loss with visible subcutaneous fat, but no exposed bone, tendon, or muscle), and Stage 4 (full-thickness loss with exposed bone, tendon, or muscle). Two additional categories don't fit the numeric scale: unstageable (the wound bed is obscured by slough or eschar, so true depth can't be determined until it's removed) and deep tissue pressure injury (intact or non-intact skin with persistent, non-blanchable deep red, maroon, or purple discoloration, signaling damage below the surface before it's visible).