VENOUS ULCERS
What are venous ulcers?
Venous ulcers or venous stasis ulcers are wounds that form
on the lower legs, usually the calves and ankles. They are usually
accompanied by leg swelling and are difficult to heal.
Even when they do heal they tend to often return.
What causes venous ulcers?
There are two components to the venous drainage of the legs. A deep sytem and a superficial system. Blood typically flows from the superficial to the deep system through small connecting veins called perforators. The perforators have valves that prevent the blood from flowing back to the surface. In the unfortunate patients who develop venous stasis ulcers, these perforator valves are non functioning or incompetent, and allow blood to flow back to the surface. This makes the legs swell up, the patient experiences discomfort and sometimes pain, and ultimately, because of the increased pressure on the skin, there is breakdown and ulcer formation.
How do you treat venous ulcers?
The mainstay of treatment for venous stasis ulcers is compression stockings. the stockings force blood from the superficial to the deep system, reduce the swelling and allow the ulcers to heal. Unfortunately, even with stockings, the majority of patients have recurrence of their ulcers. Recently a minimally invasive procedure called Radiofrequency ablation allows for in office treatment of perforating veins to speed up healing and reduce the rate of recurrence.
© 2005 Issam A. Halaby
A Service of Surgical Associates of Venice and Englewood
