Leg ulcer article in The Huffington Post

Mark Whiteley has written an article on the treatment of leg ulcers that appeared today in The Huffington Post.

Using The Whiteley Protocol(TM) Mark and his team have cured 85% of all leg ulcers that have come to The Whiteley Clinic over the last 12 years - and the majority of these had been told that they were incurable.

Mark shows that patients with leg ulcers in the UK and USA are treated by bandaging and dressing alone. At the Whiteley Clinic, specialised duplex ultrasound tests find out the underlying cause of the ulcer - usually the veins - which are then fixed using the latest pin-hole laser surgery under local anaesthetic.

Although it sounds expensive, it actually works out cheaper than continued dressings for years on end - never mind the improved quality of life for the patient and their relatives.

Leg ulcer report in Daily Mail misses point

Today a report in The Daily Mail (link below) reported on new research showing that a "mesh" of skin cells can help to cure leg ulcers.

Although this, and anything else that helps leg ulcers, is of great value, the article missed the most important point about curing leg ulcers:

- If you find out the underlying cause and cure that, then the leg ulcers will heal by themselves in the majority of patients.

Most leg ulcers in the UK are caused by venous reflux ("hidden varicose veins"). If everyone who had a leg ulcer has a duplex ultrasound scan, and then those with venous problems were fixed, and the few with arterial problems were also fixed, then the majority of leg ulcers would heal without needing such new techniques.

This new technique is only needed for those ulcers that we can't heal  ....  The problem that should be shouted about in the national media isn't the need for a new product, but WHY AREN'T PEOPLE WITH LEG ULCERS BEING INVESTIGATED FOR VENOUS DISEASE AND OFFERED CURATIVE SURGERY?

For more information see: www.legulcers.co.uk

Daily Mail Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2228348/Leg-ulcers-How-tiny-scaffolding-end-misery.html

Curing leg ulcers

 First - an e-mail that arrived today:

"Hey Mark,
I saw one of your patients daughter in clinic yesterday .... I referred her to you she had terrible trouble with her leg ulcers, her daughter was so happy and singing your praises and mine for referring, she is off the morphine and walking around, her district nurses cant believe it, just thought I would let you know."

Leg ulcers are a horrible - you might not want to look at these pictures. However, in the UK about 500,000 people and in the USA some 2.5 million people regularly get these. They are often painful and always ruin peoples lives.



Day 1 - Patient has been told by a teaching hospital she will take 2 years to heal!!!
She is on morphine, dressings and compression bandaging. She underwent The Whiteley Protocol
having a scan to show the venous reflux and local anaesthetic endovenous surgery 

Leg ulcers are usually venous leg ulcers (cause by venous reflux) and they are almost always treated by nurses using dressings and compression bandages. 

Day 4 - 4 days after Whiteley Protocol treatment - ulcer left open to the air.
Nurses not allowed ot put dressings on ulcer 

Over the last few years, The Whiteley Clinic has been one of the new wave of vein clinics around the world that have introduced local anaesthetic endovenous surgery. We have spent years researching and understanding venous reflux and venous disease (see the book - "Understanding Venous Reflux - The cause of varicose veins and venous leg ulcers).

Day 8 - Scabs are allowed to form as they are nature's dressing - and allow health skin to form underneath.

We have developed The Whiteley Protocol - a system where we can assess all venous reflux (from Thread veins, through varicose veins, the venous eczema and leg ulcers).

Day 14 - Scabs about to fall off and no pain killers needed now.
Patient is up and walkiong about, pain free for the first time in months



By understanding the underlying problem with the venous reflux, we find that we are able to cure over 60% of people with leg ulcers. We cure them by fixing the reflux using our local anaesthetic endovenous methods and then allowing the ulcer to heal by exposure to the air (and NOT allowing dressings and bandages which now are not needed). 

Day 19 - Paitient well on way to healing, walking without aid and on no pain-killers
No comperession bandaging nor dressings have been used since.

Unfortunately, most people with leg ulcers never get a chance to be investigated and cured - and most doctors and nurses never tell their patients that local anaesthetic surgery might be able to cure their leg ulcers and stop them needing dressings and bandaging.

Look out for the Whiteley Clinic research into leg ulcers that is shortly to be published.

For more information see www.legulcers.co.uk