Download our Leg Ulcer Charity PDF

Increasing numbers of people are asking us to send information about leg ulcers by post.

Currently, we do not have enough in donations to cover all of the printing and postage.

Therefore we have produced a free downloadable PDF:

            http://www.legulcercharity.org/pdf/Leg-Ulcer-Charity-Pamphlet.pdf

Download the free Leg Ulcer Charity information
booklet on leg ulcers

You are welcome to download this and distribute it widely, provided you don't make any changes to the content.

If you could help us raise more funds, we hope we will be able to print our own to post out in the future. Any donations or fund-rasing events will help us help patients with leg ulcers.

Cure leg ulcer sufferers and save the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds - Petitioning The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP

The NHS currently spend hundreds of thousands of pounds annually providing district nurses to care for leg ulcer patients, many of whom have to attend daily clinics to have numerous dressings changed and wear compression stockings and bandages. If patients with leg ulcers are properly investigated and treated, the majority should be permanently cured.

It's because of this, that we have created a petition on change.org, urging Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt to take action. 

In order to succeed we need to educate the NHS to cure venous leg ulcers in patients by treating the cause of the problem. This will not only save the NHS thousands every year, but also provide sufferers with a legitimate cure. This can only be achieved if we educate the District Nurses and wound clinics.

Stand with us and ask the Secretary of State for Health (Jeremy Hunt) to cure leg ulcer patients and save the NHS thousands of pounds.

For more information and to sign the petition, click here

Honey “unproven” for the treatment of leg ulcers

Many people believe in honey, particularly Manuka honey, to treat leg ulcers. However this belief is not backed up by good research.

Researchers have recently published a review of the world literature in the use of honey in the treatment of leg ulcers (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26050953).

Not surprisingly they have shown that there is no proven benefit that honey improves the outcome from treating leg ulcers.

As most leg ulcers are usually caused by varicose veins, "hidden varicose veins" or venous obstruction, it is not surprising that honey doesn't show a great benefit. Honey is spread on the surface of the ulcer and does not have any effect on the underlying venous problem.

These underlying problems can only be fixed by performing a venous duplex ultrasound scan, and then fixing the problem with endovenous thermal ablation (endovenous laser ablation or radiofrequency ablation), foam sclerotherapy or – occasionally – by venous stents.

This is why the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) produced guidelines saying that anyone with a leg ulcer has to be referred to a “vascular service” see: http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg168/chapter/1-recommendations#referral-to-a-vascular-service-2

Of course there are a minority of patients who have open sores on the legs that will heal with good nutrition and good dressings. These are the cases that people hold up as “proof” that honey works. Although many dressings would work, honey might have some advantages in these cases.

However, in the majority of patients, the leg ulcer is caused by an underlying venous problems and this cannot be fixed by honey alone.

Rather than prescribe honey as the first line of action, and leaving the majority of people uncured, it would be far better to follow the NICE guidelines. All patients with leg ulcers should be referred to a specialist vascular service that can perform a venous duplex ultrasound and then fix the underlying venous cause. This would cure most patients, and the few that only need simple treatments like honey could easily be identified.

Prof Mark S Whiteley 

Help us Cure Leg Ulcers by supporting the Leg Ulcer Charity

Welcome to the new leg ulcer Charity blog. We need to get your support so that patients with leg ulcers and healthcare professionals treating them understand:

• Most leg ulcers can be permanently cured
• Bandaging and compression treatment is not a cure, only a temporary healing
• NICE guidelines agree all patients with leg ulcers need a duplex scan and referral to a vascular service

The Leg Ulcer Charity aims to spread the word and improve leg ulcer patients' quality of life

It is a medical fact that most leg ulcers can be cured. It is been proven since the late 1980s that if the underlying cause (usually varicose veins or "hidden varicose veins") is found and fixed, leg ulcers can be healed.

Unfortunately, most people with leg ulcers don't know this. Therefore they allow themselves to be subjected to constant dressings, bandaging and compression stockings, none of which reversed the underlying problem.

Not surprisingly, these compression therapies can let the leg ulcers heal temporarily. However they virtually always recur again once the compression is relieved.

It is totally illogical to use compression which is temporary as the same result could be obtained by permanently treating the underlying cause.

The Leg Ulcer Charity has been set up to address this problem. Unbelievably, there are some groups and advice networks for leg ulcers that concentrate on nutrition, dressings, coping with bandaging et cetera - but completely fail to tell patients that they might be curable.

Of course not all patients are curable and research estimates that some 30 to 40% of patients with leg ulcers might not have a curable condition. However this means that 60 to 70% (and in our own research 85%) of people with   venous leg ulcers could be permanently cured if only doctors and nurses followed the NICE guidelines and send patients with leg ulcers to vascular services where they could have a specialist duplex ultrasound scan.

The Leg Ulcer Charity is dedicated to spreading the word, supporting research and helping patients with advice and, if we can get enough funding, physically.

Please help us in any way you can and in particular, please try and help us raise funding so we can help people in the UK suffering from leg ulcers.

Ways you can help:

• Follow our blog (http://legulcercharity.blogspot.co.uk/)
• Follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/legulcercharity/)
• Follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/LegUlcerCharity or @LegUlcerCharity)
• Share our posts, tweets and share our website address (http://www.legulcercharity.org)
• Suggest the Leg Ulcer Charity for any fundraising events you know of
• Donate direct to us via post or through PayPal via our website  (http://www.legulcercharity.org)
  - we are able to claim tax back on any donations that you make if you are a UK Tax payer

If you would like more information or have suggestions please contact us through info@legulcercharity.org

Please note - The Leg Ulcer Charity is a UK Registered Charity Number 1152113