I started suffering from a leg ulcer, just above my ankl...

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I started suffering from a leg ulcer, just above my ankle, about a year ago, I visited my GP at first, who refered me to our District Nurses Clinic, who treated my condition well, and it nearly healed but I was then refered to an hospital specilist, by my diabetes doctor. The specilist said it was exmah, and informed not top continue with the dressing, but to use a special cream for the condition, I took his word, and now my ulcer has opened up again, and can be very painful on some occassions. My work involves a lot of walking, as I work in a warehouse. Can anybody give me advice.

I find your information very usful. :?

[i:1c997523f3]This message was automatically imported from the original Patient Experience[/i:1c997523f3]

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  • Posted

    Hi you need to take your father to a leg ulcer specialist, depending on where in the country you live there are some very good services. The specialist will do some simple tests to work out what may be causing the ulcer and then give appropriate treatment. The cause of the majority of ulcers is about poor blood return to the heart, if this is the reason your father has an ulcer it can easily be treated with compression bandages, however compression must not be used until he has had a Doppler test which ensure the blood supply to the leg is adequate.

    This web site : http://www.legulcerforum.org/patientsleaflets has some excelent leaflets for patients about leg ulcers.

    Ask your GP to be referred to the Leg Ulcer Service or if you do not have one to the Tissue Viability Nurse. If you don't have one of those either contact the Leg Ulcer Forum and they will advise you.

    Good luck.

    Jacqui

  • Posted

    I have a small leg ulcer on my left leg just above the ankle. (My left ankle is my bad one with swelling, varicose veins etc.) I also stand a lot in my work. The ulcer started about 6 months ago with a shoe rubbing and cutting the skin. I now wear backless shoes (search 'Croc Shoes' on the internet) which don't slip off your feet as you think they might. They don't rub your ankles and keep your feet cool. The ulcer has a scab on it at the moment, if it heals up I'll let you know.

    I'm 62 now and I wonder what my leg will be like when I'm 72! It's elivating the leg, and not crossing my legs for me from now on.

  • Posted

    I hope I didn't mislead anyone reading this when I suggested Croc shoes. These are made of plastic and can be slippery when walking on wet ground. A better bet are probably leather backless shoes called Mules. Anyway my ankle ulcer has healed up, thank God. In my experience no creams or soaking in salt water, etc. work. Jacqui (above) is right, I went to my GP and his nurse done a Doppler on my leg (nothing to worry about it's just taking the blood pressure on your leg), then she got the GP to prescribe a support stocking. The chemist measures you for the right size. I found that knee length ones are good, thigh length ones are even better. With a small plaster on the ulcer under the stocking it had healed up in six weeks.

    Further info: I'd had swelling on that (left) ankle for years, following a football injury; now following the support stocking treatment the swelling has gone down and rarely recurs.

    Never wear short socks - I've left off wearing the support stocking (because I don't want my leg to rely on it) and I find long thermal socks or football socks give adequate support now.

  • Posted

    I too suffered with a leg ulcer for years, and no method helped.

    I want everyone to know about a miracle - Solcoseryl - This jelly, which is an extract of protein from calf/steer blood will oxygenate the area and cause skin to grow and cover over the ulcer. In just ten days my ulcer is almost healed!! This has been used in Europe for years, even being injected to cure stomach ulcers. It is also used for burns and to reduce scarring. I may be hard to find, but you can locate it on on-line pharmacy sites. It cost just $12.00 a tube!

    Try it, try it. I guarantee it will work and end your suffering, as it did mine.

    Clean you wound twice daily, and apply the jelly to the open wound and cover with a clean bandage, and everyday you will see the wound resolving until it scabs over and heals completely, usually in 2-4 weeks or less.

    I cant believe that after all this time my ulcer has finally healed and without dreaded surgery and skin grafts. Good luck to you.

    • Posted

      HI! I read your recommendation for solcoseryl and I hope that it happens for me like that. After reading your post I decided to order

      online as I live in Sri Lanka and nothing like that is available here.

      I just received my solcoseryl today. I am anxious to use

      it.  I too have used many things and I almost lost hope & thinking

      many negatives about not finding a cure.

      These leg ulcers are a curse and when they won't

      heal it's so depressing.

      Anyway, many thanks for your post and I will start it now,

      I hope that your leg ulcer has completely healed now.

      Good luck to you too.

       

    • Posted

      Dear Tammy

      Sorry for the delay to reply to your post. No the socloseryl did not work and I still have the ulcer. In fact it has grown. So I am unable to offer any helpful advice, sorry. I just keep cleaning the wound with betadine and apply another ointment called soframycin with a gauze soaked cream and then another dressing. To hold this in place I put a bandage without tape as applying the plaster makes the ulcer grow when it it taken off.  I also don't know what to do. It's a real curse. 

      Hope that you can find the aswer to this as it is terribly debilitating.

      Take care.

    • Posted

      Hi Sandra

      Just saw your reply to Tammy. If your ulcer has still not healed I will like to point you to .  This a unique dressing that has helped many chronic ulcers heal in a very short time.

      If you need more information you can always contact me .

      Hope it helps.

      Moderator comment: I have removed the link(s) directing to site(s) unsuitable for inclusion in the forums. If users want this information please use the Private Message service to request the details.

      http://patient.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/398316-adding-links-to-posts

      http://patient.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/398331-private-messages

    • Posted

      Where can i get this gel because I'm also suffering from leg ulcer and I've been suffering from it for 12 years

    • Posted

      My husband had a leg ulcer and he used Solosite wound gel and Aquacel AG Extra bandages for his. The bandages are expensive but I'm telling you they work. We tried everything under the sun even surgery and nothing worked until these two. I got them off of amazon. The gel is not that expensive but the bandages can be. If you shop around you can get them cheaper sometimes. They key is to keeping the wound cleaned out of the yellow dead tissue. My husband used a soft toothbrush every night and it started healing with the gel and bandage together. He had his leg ulcer for about 13 months before he started the last regiment. It took 3 months after that and it was healed. Hope this helps.

  • Posted

    Hi I have had a leg ulcer on each leg for about 10 years, healing and bursting open, healed at the moment.

    I have found Manuka Honey brilliant for healing, it was the surgery who healed my last one who put the honey on and boy oh boy it works so well and quickly, try it. It may be a little more expensive than the usual, but, it stops the ulcers from infecting and heals at the same time, natural medicine.

    health food shops, supermarkets anywhere 16+ is the best, but try it first.

    With help from compression bandages and compression stockings.

    Hope this helps.

    :wink:

    • Posted

      I found that Manuka Honey really helped in shrinking them, and reducing the depth. Unfortunetly after they had gone 'dry', 2 days later they opened up again. Now both legs are really swollen and leaking. You can actually see the fluid glistening as it comes out when I put a clean pad on. The left foot and toes are swollen so much and are so tender and painful that I'm on Gaberpentin and morphine. It is so bad at times that it makes me cry and call out. There is no one here to help as I was widowed last year. If I can't stand up to cook - it's a Mars bar and yougurt with an orange or a few grapes.  Because the foot is so tender it means that they can't put compression banages on either. finely got a hospital referal - after 3 years, but not to October, but nurse said she id going to try and get it brought foward.

       

    • Posted

      The good thing about the bandages they don't dry out the wound and it's anti-bacterial. We tried the honey and it hurt to bad for him to even use it.

    • Posted

      Yeah, the honey does tend to sting. What Michelle, (my nurse) does is cut them so small that they only just cover/go in the wound. Have been using Inadene  recently and that stings a lot as well, especially  when first applied.when .Just looked at my foot and the whole of the top is like dew on the morning grass - really wet and glistening. Yuk! Michelle hates honey in any shape or form and has to hold the dressing at arms legnth She pulls a face if I tell her that I've had runny honey in my yougurt for breakfast.

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