Venous leg ulcer 

A leg ulcer is a long-lasting (chronic) wound on your leg or foot that takes longer than six weeks to heal.

What is a venous leg ulcer? {#overview}

What causes a venous leg ulcer?

Who is affected?

Treating venous leg ulcers

Can venous leg ulcers be prevented?

Venous leg ulcer symptoms {#symptoms}

Venous leg ulcer causes {#causes}

Diagnosing a venous leg ulcer {#diagnosis}

Venous leg ulcer treatment {#treatment}

Preventing a venous leg ulcer

Complications of a venous leg ulcer {#overflow}

error

 There was an error when submitting your feedback – have a screen break then try again in a few minutes.

Oh no, something’s gone wrong

ANY COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS?

initial

This isn’t helpful

This isn’t relevant

Something is wrong

This isn’t accurate

Please select one.

loading

success

We're listening – we use your feedback to improve your experience, and make our content more helpful.

Thank you for your feedback

References

All of Healthily's articles undergo medical safety checks to verify that the information is medically safe. View more details in our <a href="/safety" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">safety page</a>, or read our <a href="/legal/editorial-policy-principles" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">editorial policy</a>.

Article information

Venous leg ulcers are chronic wounds that cause pain, itching and swelling in the affected leg. They are caused by poor venous blood flow, and can take 3-4 weeks to heal. Learn about the symptoms, treatment and prevention of venous leg ulcers here - using content verified by certified doctors.