Venous Ulcers
Male aged 37 years with venous ulcer caused by untreated varicose veins.
Ulcers developing on the lower legs are due to varicose veins in 70% of cases. Arterial disease and diabetes are responsible for nealy all the rest of cases. However there are more than a hundred other conditions that can cause leg ulcers but these are rare and only amount to about 1-2% of cases.
Varicose ulcers develop as a result of underlying chronic venous hypertension due to blood falling back down the leg from severe varicose veins.
And the most common cause of severe varicose veins are incompetent saphenous veins.
Treatment of the incompetent saphenous vein by occlusion with Endovenous Laser Ablation (ELA) and Ultrasound Guided Sclerotherapy (UGS) will usually lead to a rapid improvement and healing often beginning to be seen within a matter of weeks. Examples of treatment are on this page and in our gallery.
Prevention is better than cure so it is very important to treat varicose veins before skin damage begins to occur as some changes are irreversible.