What are Venous Ulcers?
Venous ulcers are chronic wounds that don't heal normally. Typically, venous ulcers develop in the lower leg, often above your ankle.
In most cases, venous ulcers are caused by leg vein valve malfunction. If you have a vein valve malfunction, your blood tries to flow up but ends up flowing backwards and pooling to cause pressure in your legs. This is known as venous insufficiency.
If that pressure isn't relieved, your skin cells can start dying. This necrotic tissue then forms a wound, the venous leg ulcer.
What are the Symptoms of Venous Leg Ulcers?
Often, you'll have symptoms of venous insufficiency before you develop obvious symptoms of venous leg ulcers. Symptoms of venous insufficiency include leg swelling, heavy-feeling legs, itchy legs, and darkened, hardened skin above your ankle.
Venous leg ulcers are slow to heal and usually have irregular borders with a red base. Leg pain is common with venous leg ulcers. You may also notice changes in the skin around the ulcer, including warm, shiny, discolored, or tight skin.
If your sore gets infected, you could also experience pus drainage and foul odor coming from the wound.
What is the Treatment for Venous Ulcers?
The treatment for venous ulcers starts with a plan to improve your circulation. Usually, this includes changes like wearing compression hosiery, practicing better posture, exercising more often, and sometimes prescription medication.
Additionally, vein procedures may be helpful. Your treatment may include:
- Radiofrequency Ablation: Radiofrequency ablation is known as the gold standard treatment for venous insufficiency, which means it's very helpful in preventing venous leg ulcers. During this procedure, your vein specialist makes a tiny incision through which a microcatheter delivers radiofrequency energy pulses into the vein. This triggers the vein’s collapse. This outpatient procedure usually takes 20 minutes.
- Sclerotherapy: Sclerotherapy is a minimally invasive procedure that destroys the vein causing your venous leg ulcer. In this procedure, your vein specialist injects a sclerosant into the vein to cause its shrinkage from within. This outpatient procedure takes 5-30 minutes.
- Phlebectomy: A phlebectomy is a minimally invasive vein treatment that's often combined with sclerotherapy. Sometimes, phlebectomy is done as a follow up to radiofrequency ablation. During a phlebectomy, your vein specialist makes very small incisions at several points along the problem vein and then hooks and pulls the vein out.
The Hamilton Vascular team works with you to find the ideal solutions for venous leg ulcers. Call the office nearest you or click the online booking tool to get help today.
