A leg ulcer is a hole in your skin that becomes damaged by standing or walking for long periods of time. When you walk for long periods of time, your feet need to be properly adjusted and support.
When your feet are supported well, it helps prevent pain and inflammation. Additionally, when your feet are warm while in bed, it feels more secure. This is important if you’re spending the night at a friend’s house or someone else’s home.
The preferred treatment for leg ulcers is foot massage therapy, however, there are other treatments used. These include acupuncture, botox injections, orthomolecular treatments, and nonprescription drugs such as aspirin and acetaminophen. Because of this broad range of treatments, no one drug can replace all of the others!
This article will discuss some ways to treat leg ulcers at home.
Contents:
Applying medication
It is very important to be aware of what medication you are given for leg ulcers. Most drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen are coated on the wound site to prevent it bleeding.
It is important to take your medicine as prescribed- even if you feel better immediately. As with any pain medication, it may help to take it earlier in the day than you do regular medication.
Many prescription drugs have special applications on skin- i.e. antibiotics having an oral antibiotic, antihistamines having an antihistamine, and blood thinner agents having a blood thinning property. These properties should be used when needed, not due to a failure of drug administration.
Elevating the leg
Elevating the leg is one of the most effective ways to treat leg ulcers. When you do this, you make your feet look much bigger and stronger.
To treat your leg ulcer, you must first find a surgeon who can perform a minimally invasive procedure. This surgery is performed by placing tiny instruments in place to perform various treatments.
One of the treatments performed by the surgeon is to place an elevation device in place. An elevation device is a pad or disk that is placed on your lower legs to create a small space for healing.
The space created by the elevation device allows water and nutrients to flow through it, which increases the rate of healing. By having an elevation device in place, you are making sure that you are treating your ulcer correctly.
This article will discuss some helpful ways to treat your leg ulcers at home. If you have trouble raising your legs, there are many home treatment options available.
Changing the bandage
Another way to treat leg ulcers at home is to make a new bandage. There are many ways to make a new bandage. You can buy a premade one, or you can create your own.
One way to do this is to start with an alcohol-based solution. The liquid can be sprayed onto the wound, rubbed in thoroughly, and then covered with fresh bandage. Or you can use a wetting agent such as water or washing up liquid instead of oil.
Then, there is the option of making your own brand new Bandages using tissue engineering, where you use dried tissue which is soaked in liquid and then rolled and cut into a bandage.
Keeping the ulcer clean
While acute leg ulcers can be treated in a hospital, it is important to keep the less acute ulcer clean. In a hospital setting, physicians can easily remove the ulcer and re-treat it.
In your home health setting, you can try to keep the leg ulcer clean by avoiding shoes with holes or tears, loose clothing, and walking barefoot. Also avoid alcohol treatments or ointments as these may dry out the skin further.
To treat a chronic leg ulcer, you must rebuild your tissue around it. This may take months or even years! During this time, you may have to tolerate pain from time to time, but overall you should feel better soon.
As mentioned earlier, smoking reduces pain symptoms and swelling causing blood clots to flow which helps reduce pain. You also should talk with your doctor about any other medications that may not be safe without his guidance.
Using over the counter medications
It is very rare for people who use leg ulcers at home to have bad side effects. Most of the time, your doctor will recommend a certain medication to be used for leg ulcers at home.
However, before you start looking up these medications on your phone, you should know that some of them are dangerous. Some can even cause muscle contractions or seizures!
Being aware of the dosages your doctor recommends and being careful not to overdose are the two main things you can do at home to treat your leg ulcers. Using over-the-counter medications can potentially save you from having to go to a pharmacy, where there is likely someone who does not know how to use it.
This article will talk about some of the different drugs that are used for leg ulcers at home.
Talking with your doctor about therapeutic hypothermia
Is it really safe to have a warm bath or a hot shower after you have leg ulcers? A brief warm bath or hot shower may help reduce the pain of your ulcer.
There is some evidence that therapeutic hypothermia can help reduce pain in chronic leg ulcers. This is known as Ulcerative Leg Ulcer (elbow) Therapy. It works by reducing pain and restlessness in the leg ulcer.
Therapeutic hypothermia is only suitable for acute leg ulcers and shouldn’t be attempted on a daily basis. The chance of any side effects occurring is very low. It should only be used if other therapies have failed or are not working.
If you think that having a warm bath or a hot shower may help with your ulcer, then do it! But don’t do it every day – keep in touch with your doctor for guidelines.
Compression garments
A compression garment can be a lifesaver when trying to treat leg ulcers at home. While the idea is wonderful, it is not for the faint of heart.
Leg ulcers can be hard to spot and treat, mainly because they can look like a ball and sticklegs. However, when they are badly damaged, it may be almost impossible to tell.
Luckily, there are many ways to treat or repair a wound, so this is not the most popular way to go about it. However, when there is no other reasonable option available, going to the hospital is definitely an option.
At Home Surgery has created a video that talks about how to do home surgery on leg ulcers.
Leg elevation
Assume your patient has a leg ulcer that is very deep. He or she has been diabetic for several years, which has caused his or her leg sugar to become more concentrated.
This is important because the leg elevation needed to consume this sugar is greater than someone without this condition can ingest.
This increased sugar intake has contributed to leg ulcers in some people. Fortunately, at home, you can try some strategies to help help heal your leg ulcers.
Try these at your own risk: Cut down on the intensity of exercise you are going to be doing, reduce strenuous lifting sessions, and keep an eye on your pain levels. All of these will help prevent any serious injuries or pain that could stop you from doing your usual things.
If possible and necessary, have your patient walk around their whole body every day to allow for any pain to spread and gain relief.