Venous Ulcers
What Is Venous Ulcers?
Ulcers are open skin sores. They can affect any area of the skin. But they most often occur on the legs. Venous ulcers are leg ulcers caused by problems with blood flow (circulation) in your leg veins.
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Normally, when you get a cut or scrape, your body's healing process starts working to close the wound. In time, the wound heals. But ulcers may not heal without proper treatment.
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Causes of venous ulcers
Venous ulcers most often form around the ankles.
Venous ulcers typically occur because of damage to the valves inside the leg veins. These valves control the blood pressure inside the veins. They allow it to drop when you walk. If the blood pressure inside your leg veins doesn't fall as you're walking, the condition is called sustained venous hypertension. That increase in blood pressure causes ulcers to form on your ankles.
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Source: Hopkinsmedicine.org
Venous Leg ulcers (VLUs) affect as many as 20% of patients with advanced chronic venous insufficiency and are associated with significant morbidity and health care cost. VLUs are the most common cause of leg ulcers; however, other etiologies of lower extremity ulcerations should be investigated, most notably arterial insufficiency, to ensure appropriate therapy. Careful clinical examinations, standardized documentations, and ultrasound evaluation are needed for diagnosis and treatment success. Reduction of edema and venous hypertension through compression therapy, local wound care, and treatment of venous reflux or obstruction is the foundation of therapy. As key providers in venous disease, at Varis Vein Institute we are aware of current standardized disease classification and scoring systems as well as treatment and wound car guidelines for venous ulcers.
