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Conditions

Leg Ulcer

Leg ulcer

A leg ulcer definitely sounds like something we could all happily live without. And thankfully, for people under the age of 45, they are very rare. However, if you’ve made it past the grand old age of 80, the figures show that 1 in every 50 are affected by venous leg ulcers, and they are more common in people who are obese or immobile. Leg ulcers look like craters in the skin, varying in shape, colour and size. Your leg may also be painful, itchy and swollen. In many cases they are due to poor circulation in the arteries, if the values in your veins stop working or as a result of diabetes. Ulcers need to be kept clean to avoid infection whilst arterial ulcers may benefit from surgery. If the leg ulcer is caused by an underlying disease it’s important to have this treated as well.

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this message is to claire .. you say you have had a lump in your leg for 9 months has your doctor ruled out a haematoba? it sounds to me like it could be ask her to have another look, its sound similar to my problem, i got hit by a car and the haematoba got infected and had to be drained out of my leg surgucially, please see your doctor, if your leg is swelling alot too as it could be secondary lymphodema.





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Hi I am 60 years have had a leg ulcer for15 years have been to consultants and had all the bandage treatment and a biobsy that was fine it gets better and then flares up again. Iam now getteing dressing from the surgery and looking after it myself, am puting 50 50 cream on it is there anything else i can use. Thankyou.





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I am 30 years old and have had small swollen inflamed areas appear on both my legs always below my knee on and off since the age of 18. My Doctor has diagnosed them as erythema nodosum, she has taken blood samples from me and said everything is normal. I have a large lump currently on my right leg, it is the biggest i've ever had and it has been 9 months now and still inflamed (the longest i've ever had one for). It is painful and I know it can be related to auto immune diseases. I would prefer to see a specialist who may be able to tell me more as the pain, discomfort and my leg is not nice to look at.





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hi there i have a d.v.t leg ulcer and its constantly leaks water could you plz tell me why this is happening.bacuse this has never happened before manythanks......claire





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i have rheumatoid arthritis,every time i have a flare the skin on my legs just seems to melt and ooze clear fluid,like blisters just on the back of my legs.really painful,they itch,hurt and during the night they seem to heal,yellowy scabs.as soon as i start walking round in the morning they crack and start getting wet again.if i stop my methotrexate they start to heal but my arthritis gets worse?also an arcoxia.consultant says its not the drugs?





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Hi Im 18, I got a leg ulcer on my left ankle, i got the ulcer when i was 17, it heeled, but i didn have a stocking or any support, i went to play football and it flared up straight away, twice as bad, ive had these this ulcer for nearly a year and half, i cant do what a young, fit healthy 18 year old normally does, but, despite the negatives, there is a positive, altho it took the nhs so long and a number of scans to help them decide i needed laser surgery, which i have had and it is improvein, slowly, but surely, hopefully this helped.





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My dad who's 84 has developed a series of small leg ulcers over the last 6 months, leading to a large one developing on his ankle. He's not very mobile and gets no walking exercise and has diabetes. He has seen his doctor and visits the nurse regularly to have it dressed however it has just been getting worse and worse and the medical professionals have given him no information whatsoever. I decided this couldn't go on. I have done as much research on leg ulcers via the internet as I can and found that they are caused due to lack of circulation in the legs. If you don't walk - you don't use your calf muscles and these pump the blood through your legs. I bought him a 'Circulation Booster' TENS machine which works your calf muscles for you and made him a rocking board to put his feet on to rock his heels up and down. In the last 4 weeks his leg has improved immeasurably, the swelling has gone the condition of his skin is greatly improved and although he still has the one large ulcer he is now hopeful that once this has healed he will be free of them if he keeps on with his exercises. Why aren't health professionals giving out such simple advice to enable people with ulcers to help themselves - like EXERCISE YOUR CALF MUSCLES!!!! - if lack of circulation is the cause why oh why are they not informing patients of this instead of just letting them think that there's nothing positive that can be done to help. Even if this doesn't cure them totally my dad now feels far more positive and hopeful that he may be free of this problem eventually.





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my husband has had red , thick, hard,bleeding,scaling,itchy,sores all over his legs and bottom and they are growing and enlarging and we have been to so many doctors and through so many creams-now using an air matress. I am at witts end trying to find anyone who knows how to stop this. He was just in the hospital and received strong antibiotics which started to heal everything but the buttocks area. It all started when a dermatologist sugically took off a pre-cancer skin condition.





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im a 36yr old women and i have been suffering from a leg ulcer 4 the past 7yrs, this was due 2 having a dvt just after giving birth 2 my daughter 8yrs ago. my leg constantly swells and i always suffer pain. i wud realy love 2 have another child, but im not sure if i wud be safe 2 do so. please cud you advise me on weather there is any chance of having another baby....





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hi i am 39 years of age and suffer from lypodermatosclerosis,i think it is called, i have had it for about 4 years due to driving buses and lack of excersise,i recently got aquios cream from my doc to cure the dry skin,my skin then burned and bubbled then the skin started falling off,i went back to my doc who took swabs he said it was leg ulcers,the water is still running from my leg,what else can i do





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It looks like no one else has asked this question, so please fill in the rest of your details below.





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