I have suffered from open legs for a year now. They are bandaged daily by home care. The lower legs are now nice and thin. I’m not allowed to use compression stockings yet, the skin is too delicate for that. Can oxygen treatment help?
Joris Bartstra, journalist with a medical degree.
An open leg is usually caused by a lack of return of blood to the heart, for example after a thrombosis leg. Such a chronic wound can be very persistent. If it fails to close, good results are sometimes achieved with oxygen treatment, but this is up for debate. Compared to the standard approach, there is not much difference in outcome in the long run. There are topical oxygen treatments with a device that delivers oxygen under the bandage, and there are treatments where the patient is placed in a large tank. The idea is that the oxygen would stimulate the formation of new blood vessels in such a ‘still’ wound. In your case, the skin is already closed: you do not have an open leg at the moment. I think the thin skin is a result of the early recovery. It is especially important that your legs remain thin; fluid in the tissues prevents the oxygen in the blood from reaching the tissues. There are techniques to put on compression stockings as gently as possible, home care should know all about that.
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