This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages without signing in

Leg ulcer

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Chronic ulceration of the leg is a disruption of the epidermis and dermis in the lower limb of more than 6 weeks in duration and shows no tendency to heal after 3 months of appropriate treatment or is still not fully healed at 12 months (1,2).

  • it affects elderly people more frequently and can be extremely expensive to manage
    • in the UK, the cost of chronic leg ulceration is estimated to be approximately £600 million per annum
  • the impact of leg ulceration on the health-related quality of life is of the same order as diabetes and arthritis (1)

A typical history is one of relapsing ulceration over decades.

Leg ulceration may be classified by aetiological frequency into

  • venous - 70% of leg ulcers
  • arterial -10% of leg ulcers
  • mixed disease - 15% of leg ulcers
  • less common causes - 5% of leg ulcers (2)

Reference:


Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.