Embarrassed about venous ulcer

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I think I've got a venous ulcer on one ankle. I have suffered with varicose veins since my late teens and I accidentally scratched the surface of a vein on my ankle about 6 or 7 weeks ago. It has refused to heal and is extremely tender to touch. The surface scab (sorry!) has fallen off twice and there was a crater left until a new scab formed.

I'm embarrassed as I associate such bad varicose veins and leg ulcers with older people not me at 42. (I don't mean any offence by that, just after doing the usual Google diagnosis I can only find examples on older people).

Am I the only one with bumpy blue legs that swell up all the time, I can't wear socks unless they are loose, let alone boots.

If course I'll phone GP next week but at nearly 1am on a Saturday I've fallen into an internet hole! 😬

Oh gosh, have you managed to see your GP yet? What did they say? The NHS should treat you especially as it has developed into an ulcer, make you get yourself checked out asap and try to avoid any infection.

I’m in my 40’s too and I’ve suffered with varicose veins for years and despite having repeated episodes of superficial thrombophlebitis I was told the NHS won’t treat me, as it’s cosmetic!! Hardly cosmetic when they’re causing you pain, discomfort and side effects! Anyway, I’ve just had my veins treated privately at The Veincentre, I couldn’t suffer any longer. They performed EVLA unilateral laser treatment plus foam and micro sclerotherapy.

I’ve had a very good experience so far and can recommend them if you felt you wanted to go down this route, incase the NHS won’t fund treatment.

I really hope you get a good result
from you GP!

@Missmonty Im so interested in this private treatment. My mum has suffered since her 20's her legs are really painful and they hurt her everyday. So many swellings lumps and bumps, tender bits all over and they are just a big blue mass. My heart breaks for her and she never gets her legs out. Holidays are a nightmare. Can you tell me please how painful the treatment is and is it really expensive? I'm going to research the company you suggested just now. I feel so sorry for her after the at least 20 dr appointments where they also tell her it's just cosmetic. Absolutely disgusting how they can say that when people are in pain daily with it. 😩

Hi, I couldn't get in at the GP. I was told the only option was to go to walk in centre....not so easy with 2 young kids.

Anything, it's calmed down a bit but still not healed. If it's still there I'll try Gap again.

I'll definitely look at the private option though, thank you for the suggestion x

Vascular consultant …
to help it heal -
elevate your legs when resting ( feet above hips)
exercise ( walking and heel raise exercises)
wear a compression sock ( flight socks from boots) but ideally a class 2 compression stocking ( below knee ) fine.
If overweight - loosing weight will help in the long term.

Its a postcode lottery but you may be referred for treatment on the NHS so do ask.

Op until you see your gp, try and wear some flight socks.
This will help compress the varicose veins and improve some blood flow to the area that needs to heal.

Your poor mum 😔 there are lots of Veincentres around the UK so hopefully there’s one close to your mum. Their initially consultation appointment cost me £250 and included a scan of both legs, at the first consultation they will find the cause of the varicose veins and put together a treatment plan including costs, first appointment lasted an hour and was extremely thorough. The next appointment I had the EVLA laser treatment to close faulty values and some cosmetic sclerotherapy, then 6 weeks later I had further sclerotherapy on smaller varicose veins. In total it has cost £3,000 but the price will be different from person to person, depending on what treatment they suggest. I wouldn’t say it’s painful more of a weird sensation and uncomfortable, for the laser treatment you are given local anesthetic. You also need to wear full length compression socking constantly for the first 7 days afterwards.
I’ve been told it can take several months before you see the final results, but things are looking good so far!
Definitely check the Veincentre out, their website is very good, they have social media pages too!
Hope you mum is able to have some treatment 🤞

I had mine done privately too 4 years ago. Worth every penny. It was done by a local consultant vascular surgeon. He lasered the problem vein then removed the surface cosmetic ones, all under local anaesthetics.

I was home for lunch. The worst part by far was the compression stockings! Because the surface vein was removed the results were instant and the scarring is invisible as each cut was tiny. I haven't needed any further treatment and with any luck won't.

Can you get an appointment with the practice nurse rather than the GP? They will do a Doppler to check your venous flow and then can measure and sort class II hosiery if it’s ok. Or compression bandaging to heal it faster.

Practice nurse here. You can probably book directly in with the nurse, you shouldn't need to see a GP first unless it's infected. I deal with these all the time. If you're able, which you probably are, after arranging the compression treatment and dressings required, I'd get you to do them yourself and just pop in every few weeks to check it's healing. With compression it should heal fairly quickly but you'd need to continue compression to prevent it recurring.
I would recommend compression, elevation, leg exercises and avoiding long periods of standing. Eat well for healing, avoid smoking and if overweight, lose some.

@Missmonty
I was googling this just last week, I have very large varicose veins (proper bumps visible through my leggings...I thought only option I would have would be be the old fashioned getting them 'stripped'... not sure how bad yours were.. do you think your treatment would work on bigger veins?
Sorry I know thats quite a random question

wounds need ideally to be healed before a Doppler is completed
they take approx 40-60 mins to do so wouldn’t be on a first appointment but getting the nurses/hcas to look at the wound and dress it is a good idea.

One of the veins I had treated with EVLA laser was very large, ran from above my knee down to my ankle, bulging blue vein. I had some sclerotherapy on this vein too 6 weeks after the laser treatment. They tend not to strip the veins anymore, I did have some veins stripped in my 20’s but they came back. The treatment available now is so much more advanced, the laser treatment also fixes the cause so that vein shouldn’t come back again. If you look on Veincentre social media pages and websites you’ll find done before and after photos 🙂

@Missmonty
Thank you, thats good to know

It infuriates me that treatment for veins is considered cosmetic. I had mine stripped (years ago) and it made such a difference as I could actually walk and sit without pain. I recently had sclerotherapy on spider veins which was cosmetic so I paid for it. Definitely worth it though!

I'd say if you tell the GP it's causing you pain then they should refer you for treatment. My mum is having hers done, but it took ages before they suggested it. She's had them since her 40s and didn't know anything could be done.

Don't wait to see the GP, they'll only refer you on to the practice nurses anyway.

Make an appointment and get treatment started. It'll need a proper dressing, then if no healing some Dopplers doing to check for venous insufficiency and then compression if OK.

I had one in my 40s, had varicose veins since my 20s. The compression bandaging didn't help, just kept it stable. I had the veins closed off by laser treatment on the NHS (one on each leg). Within a couple of weeks of this, the ulcer was gone, it did leave a nasty scar though. As you have a ulcer you should push for NHS treatment. Apparently it is often down to genetics. At the clinic I went to, I was the oldest person there, there was a very slim guy in his early 20s there (his father who was with him had his veins treated 15 years earlier) !