Around 80% of leg ulcers are venous ulcers and can be cured

Leg ulcers are open, non-healing wounds of the legs, usually the lower legs, or the feet, sometimes called open sores. About 80% of leg ulcers are venous leg ulcers caused by veins not working properly.

Ulcers can be painful or not painful, big or small, wet or dry, smelly or not smelly. There are many different appearances of ulcers when looked at on the surface and this has resulted in a lot of confusion especially in nurses and dermatologists who only look at the surface.

By looking at the ulcer, you can check that there is nothing abnormal, for example a rare skin cancer growing in it, but there is very little that can be found just from looking at the surface of a leg ulcer. Unquestionably, it is impossible to tell which are curable or incurable just from looking at the surface alone.

In the case of Leg Ulcers, when the skin cells break down this allows air and bacteria to get into the tissue below. When an ulcer appears on the leg, it’s tempting to apply dressings and creams, hoping the skin will grow back.

However, years of research have shown that the real root cause of the leg ulcer appearing is actually the underlying blood supply to the skin. That’s why, following The Whiteley Protocol®, we insist that successful treatment of ulcers (and the successful prevention of ulcers) must be directed at correcting problems with the underlying blood supply, and not in fact the ulcer itself.

This is essential as many leg ulcers occur in older people and they may have more than one cause for their leg ulcers

The Specialist Vascular Surgeons at The Whiteley Clinic, always check for other causes as well as arterial causes before treating Venous Leg Ulcers.

For more information on leg ulcers and treatments available to you please visit our website. Alternatively, contact us using the contact form, email at info@thewhiteleyclinic.co.uk or call us on 01483 477180.