Prevention of leg ulcers

There are a lot of people all over the world who suffer from leg ulcers. However, not every person knows what it is and how can it be treated. People need to know that leg ulcer is not an acute but a chronic wound, located on the leg or foot. In most cases leg ulcer, it takes about six weeks for the wound to heal. People may notice these health conditions by some symptoms that occur in most cases. Some of these symptoms are pain, itching and swelling of the leg that is affected.

Types of leg ulcers

There are several types of leg ulcer but the most common is venous leg ulcer. According to the studies, this type of leg ulcer occurs in 85% of all cases. The most common cause of venous leg ulcer is persistent high blood pressure in the veins of the legs. This constant high blood pressure causes damage to the skin. Apart from this type of leg ulcer, there are some others like arterial leg ulcer, diabetic leg ulcer, vasculitis leg ulcer, traumatic leg ulcer and malignant leg ulcer. Arterial one is caused by poor blood circulation in the arteries, diabetic one is caused by high blood sugar connected with diabetes and traumatic leg ulcer is caused by an injury to the leg. How common are venous leg ulcers?

According to the researches, venous leg ulcers are not that common and in the UK only one person out of 500 is affected by them. However, people need to know that the chances of ending up with venous leg ulcers increase with age. According to the studies, one person out of 50 is affected by ulcers when they reach the age of 80.

People need to know that there are some risk factors that they should watch out for and they are immobility, obesity and varicose veins.

Outlook

It is important that people know the outlook for small ulcers is good in most cases. A person will suffer from ulcers no more in 12 weeks if he or she receives proper treatment. In case of large ulcers the healing time is longer. The usual treatment is cleaning of the wound and dressing it by using compression bandages. These bandages are important for the control of blood pressure inside the leg. However, people need to treat the actual cause of the ulcer, especially if the cause is immobility or obesity. Antibiotics are not used in the treatment of leg ulcers.