Lohmann & Rauscher partner with Legs Matter to share three incredibly powerful patient stories to 'get loud for legs' during Legs Matter Awareness Week.
This is Julia's story
Julia's leg problems first started when she broke her right lower leg after falling down two steps in Leeds Market in November 2015.
After six months my leg bones had healed but there was an open wound that just wouldn’t heal. It was decided that I would undergo a ‘flap operation’ where all the pins and screws were removed and I had a muscle transplant and a skin graft on the wound site. This would cover up the original open wound, but caused another wound to open which again, wouldn’t heal.
Julia was attending hospital visits every week to have her dressings changed but after two and half years she was discharged from the hospital despite that fact that her wound not yet healed. Julia was left with a very painful, open leg ulcer.
The ulcer continued to ooze and bleed and was still really painful. In all that time the consultant didn’t suggest any treatment that would actually work and was just very unoptimistic about my chances of healing. I felt he didn’t really understand leg ulcers and how to heal them.
I’ve been with the new consultant for about 10 months now and she has just been wonderful! The whole vascular team, Leanne, Clare and Adele have just done all the things I believe I should have been offered from the start. They got me straight into compression socks, which are not great but really do work.
As of today my wound has now been deemed ‘healed’ which is wonderful and the start of my new future.
Julia’s advice to anyone with a wound that isn’t healing is to act quickly and to not settle for being told you can’t heal.
Read Julia's story in full on the Legs Matter site.
Visit our common conditions section to view some of the early signs and symptoms to look out for.
If you think that you have any of the signs and symptoms of venous disease, its important that you do something as early as possible to prevent the condition from getting worse. You should contact your GP for advice and next steps in managing your leg health.
