Can leg ulcers be prevented?

In this article below, revered consultant vascular surgeon, Mr S. Tawqeer Rashid, discusses leg ulcers at length, including the treatment options, the causes, and whether or not they can be prevented.

What are leg ulcers?

Leg ulcers are ulcers that form when the skin cover that you have breaks down, and as a result, you are left with an exposed part of the body, without the benefit and protection of the skin covering.

These are usually associated with the leg and the range of causes are extensive. The main causes usually relate to your blood supply, either a lack of blood supply or venous drainage. A lack of blood supply is the case in roughly 20 per cent of patients with leg ulcers, with the majority suffering leg ulcers due to problems associated with the venous drainage in the leg.

What are the symptoms of leg ulcers?

The first symptom is an unhealed area in the leg where there is exposed skin. Many people suffer from pain, nasty skin infections, leakage of fluid from the ulcer, and an unpleasant smell coming from the area.

Can leg ulcers be prevented?

Leg ulcers can be prevented in the sense that if you have a venous problem, you should get this treated. Having this treated will reduce your chances of suffering from leg ulcers. Patients should avoid smoking, keep their diabetes under control if they have it, walk regularly, and generally keep themselves and their legs in as healthy a condition as possible.

What treatments are available for leg ulcers?

The treatment depends on whether the patient has a venous leg ulcer or not. If they do, we will use compression therapy whereby we warp tight bandages or stockings around the ulcer to try to squeeze the pressure away from the superficial skin.

In addition to that, we can now treat venous incompetence, whereby we take away the leaky valves that feed into the skin. This is done by ablation.

In rarer cases, it could be due to blockages in your deep veins, which we need to open up with stents. If you, on the other hand, have something called an arterial leg ulcer, you actually need to improve the blood supply, either via surgery or inserting stents.

If you would like to book a consultation with Mr S. Tawqeer Rashid, simply head on over to his Top Doctors profile today.