Leg Ulcers
Put simply, a leg ulcer is a break in the skin below the knee. Most of us have suffered a bump to the lower leg that’s broken the skin at some point in our lives. It’s when it doesn’t heal normally that you need medical advice – there may be an underlying medical condition preventing healing. As a rule, if the ulcer hasn’t healed after two weeks, or is bigger than a 50p piece, you need specialist medical attention. Leg ulcers can be very painful and they won’t heal by themselves – so give yourself the best chance of healing with our expert advice and treatment.
Diagnosis and treatment
Around two-thirds of ulcers that don’t heal are prevented from doing so due to chronic venous insufficiency. Other causes include peripheral arterial disease, diabetes, an inflammatory disease such as vasculitis or arthritis, obesity, sedentary lifestyle or super added infection. It’s important to identify, and where possible correct, this underlying factor.
If the underlying factor appears to be chronic venous insufficiency, we call it a Venous ulcer. It occurs because the veins in the legs aren’t returning blood to the heart properly. Symptoms include pain, itching and swelling, swollen ankles filled with fluid, discoloration, hardened skin around the ulcer, feeling of heaviness, venous eczema, black deposits in the skin, and varicose veins.
Thankfully, we offer a number of effective treatments.
“Don’t just wait around and hope yout leg ulcers will heal on their own, get specialist treatment from Premier Vascular and put your mind at rest.”
How we can help
To find out if you have arterial and venous disease in your legs we use a simple duplex ultrasound scan, carried out by one of our team of experienced sonographers under supervision from a vascular surgeon. We do this at initial consultation and follow-up clinic appointments.
As long as the blood supply in your affected the leg is acceptable (and we will check this for you) we can treat you using compression bandaging. In addition, we can offer minimally invasive treatments such as, foam sclerotherapy, endothermal ablation and peripheral angioplasty which can help ulcer healing and prevent recurrence. We have expert nurses on hand to dress your ulcer, and provide advice on how to prevent them reccurring – such as increasing your mobility, losing weight and elevating your legs when sitting or lying down, as well as provide compression bandaging and hosiery.
Don’t let your leg ulcer cause you discomfort any longer. Give yourself the best possible chance to heal quickly and call today on 0121 769 1029, email us, or fill out our contact form to book a consultation.
To find out more information, please view our leaflet here.