Chronic Venous Insufficiency and the Threat of Leg Wounds

Recently, chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) has been making the headlines as President Donald Trump received a diagnosis for this common vascular condition. And by common, we’re referring to the fact that CVI affects about 25 million Americans, 6 million of whom have advanced CVI, which places them at greater risk for leg ulcers.

As specialists in challenging and chronic foot, ankle, and leg wounds, double board-certified practitioner Dr. Thomas Rambacher and the team at Foot Ankle Leg Wound Care Orange County are very familiar with CVI-related venous ulcers. And here’s what we want you to know about the connection and what steps to take next.

Behind chronic venous insufficiency

A great place to start is to provide a brief explanation of CVI. The 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body circulate your blood round and round — an impressive three times every minute.

Some of these blood vessels have a more difficult job, such as the veins in your legs, which have to push blood back up to your heart, fighting distance and gravity the entire time.

To help, the veins in your legs are equipped with tiny, one-way valves that close as blood passes through on its way upward. This valve action helps to prevent blood from stalling on its journey and slipping backward.

With CVI, the valves in your legs are weak and they don’t close all the way, which allows blood to pool. When this happens, the blood can engorge a vein and send it to the surface, giving you a varicose vein. In fact, varicose veins are often the first signs of CVI.

Chronic venous insufficiency and leg ulcers

While varicose veins aren’t particularly alarming, medically speaking, they’re just an early sign. CVI can lead to far more serious issues, such as leg ulcers. These leg ulcers affect about 20% of people with CVI.

The reason behind the leg ulcers is that, when you have advanced CVI, fluids can build up in your lower legs, leading to high blood pressure in these veins. As a result, tiny blood vessels can burst and your skin is pulled taut and made more vulnerable to wounds.

When this pressure builds up, you can develop what we call venous stasis ulcers, which are sores in your lower legs that don’t heal easily. And the reason they don’t heal easily is the same reason they develop, poor circulation in your lower extremities.

Managing leg wounds caused by CVI

The one takeaway that we want to leave you with is that you should come see us the moment you notice any sore or wound on your leg due to CVI. Prior to these wounds, you might notice swelling in your legs and shinier patches of discolored skin. These conditions are ripe for venous ulcers.

And the moment there’s any break in your skin, we need to act fast to get the wound closed and healed, so don’t delay in reaching out to us.

Whether you have CVI and want to learn more about venous leg ulcers or you have a potential ulcer, please don’t hesitate to call our office in Mission Viejo, California, at 949-832-6018 or request an appointment online today.