Why do ulcers occur?

The causes of leg ulcers can be put down to 3 main categories

● 1] Venous Causes
 (caused by veins not working) - about 80% of leg ulcers
 
● 2] Arterial Causes
 (caused by the arteries not working) - about 15% of leg ulcers
 
● 3] Other Causes
 - about 5% of leg ulcers

This website is going to concentrate on Venous Causes of leg ulcers as this is what affects most people - and it is also the easiest to cure in most people.

However, it should be noted that Specialist Vascular Surgeons always check for arterial causes and other causes before treating Venous Leg Ulcers. This is necessary as many leg ulcers occur in older people - and many may have more than one cause of their leg ulcers.

Therefore just because a venous cause is found for the leg ulcer, it doesn't mean to say that there isn't ALSO an arterial or other cause at the same time.

Fortunately most arterial leg ulcers can be cured by bypass surgery or angioplasty. Therefore by accurately identifying the cause, we are able to cure many of the leg ulcers - sometimes using combined approaches (ie: treat the arterial cause first followed by the venous cause).

Ulcers in the "other causes" need to be treated depending on the specific cause.

Venous Leg Ulcers

To understand how venous leg ulcers occur, you have to have some understanding of the structures in the leg (see animation on the left) and also how the Vein Pump in the leg works.

This is explained in full on a sister site - click here if you wish to see an explanation of the vein pump.

Before about 1985, the world of venous disease was viewed very simply. The venous system of the leg was split into 2 - the DEEP system and the SUPERFICIAL system.

Doctors and Nurses used to believe that vein pump failure in each produced different problems as explained in the next page.