Leg ulcer affects 10% of sickle cell disease patients

President,  Sickle Cell Hope Alive Foundation (SCHAF), Professor Adeyinka Falusi, has said that leg ulcers affect over 10 per cent of sickle cell disease SCD patients in Nigeria, with untold hardship and ill health.

Falusi made the disclosure at the commencement of  free treatment for six persons with severe leg ulcers at the Ring Road State Hospital, Ibadan.

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Falusi, a professor of haematology, stated that SCHAF had embarked on a year treatment of these patients with severe leg ulcers as part of its celebration of the festive period.

According to her, unlike the traditional dry wound dressing, the ulcers will be treated with the compression therapy used in developed countries, saying it is possible within a year to ensure a high percentage of these wounds healing.

Professor Falusi said in 2016, SCHAF treated 19 patients with 27 leg ulcers, some almost eating to the bones with four of them getting their legs healed and 64 per cent of the other patients achieving 50 per cent healing within a year.

“These are young people in their 20s and 30s. Imagine the vicious cycle; some had lost their jobs, left school, one even wanted to commit suicide because students in her school were laughing at her for a smelling leg,” she added.

Professor Falusi, however, solicited financial support for the treatment of these wounds that she said cost SCHAF about N 1.5 million to 27 legs in three months back in 2016.

Dr Ayodele Ogunkeyede, consultant plastic surgeon, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, in a health awareness talk on leg ulcer prevention, cautioned sickle cell disease patients against frequent sickle cell crisis.

According to him, sickle cell disease patients that have less frequent sickle cell crisis, experience lesser wounds that refuse to heal.

Ogunkoyede stated that reducing the recurrence of leg ulcer will also require that they avoid malaria, eat healthily, drink plenty of water, maintain good hygiene, avoid temperature extremes and engage in moderate exercise regularly.

The plastic surgeon stated that the compression therapy, unlike the traditional routine wound dressing, ensures faster and better healing because it also addresses poor blood circulation in the leg that contributes to poor wound healing.

According to him, “More than 80 per cent of these cases are actually due to venous skin ulcer and the treatment worldwide for the venous ulcer is compression wound therapy care, which many people are not carrying out on patients because materials for it are imported.”

Leg ulcers are unhealed sores or open wounds on the legs. Without treatment, these types of ulcers can keep recurring. They can last anywhere from a few weeks to years. This condition is most commonly caused by poor circulation.

They can severely disrupt the quality of life, increase disability, require extended absence from the workplace, and place a high burden of care on healthcare systems.

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