The Role of Compression Hosiery in Venous Leg Ulcer Treatment

This literature review focuses on the application of compression hosiery in treating venous leg ulcers. The review highlights the effectiveness of compression therapy in preventing ulcer recurrence and managing chronic venous disease. It discusses the importance of patient adherence to compression therapy, examining factors that contribute to non-adherence such as pain, discomfort, and cost. The review also explores various types of compression therapy, including compression bandages and intermittent pneumatic devices, emphasizing the need for patient education and regular checkups to minimize recurrence risk. Furthermore, the review references several studies that support the use of compression stockings and surgical interventions to decrease the recurrence of venous leg ulcers. This analysis underscores the significance of compression therapy as a key component in the comprehensive management of venous leg ulcers, emphasizing the need for patient compliance and appropriate pressure compression to prevent recurrence.

Nursing

Literature Review
The application of compression hosiery is considered to be effective and best practice which
assists to prevent the recurrence of the venous leg ulcers. The non-adherence of the therapy is
common as the prescribed high compression stocking have high non-adherence levels in
comparison to moderate compression stockings. Compression is useful to treat different
symptoms of chronic venous disease (Raju, 2019). The chronic venous insufficiency within
an individual leads to the development of leg ulcers which is difficult to treat. The venous leg
ulcers can endure for long time periods and imposes a negative impact on the quality of life.
Venous leg ulcers are seen to be the open wounds in the skins of the lower leg because of the
high blood pressure in the legal veins. It occurs due to the cycle of events in the venous
system of the leg.
Compression therapy is a significant component of treating the venous leg ulcer and prevents
it from recurrence. The therapy assists to decrease inflammation and venous stasis, improve
tissue vascularisation and decrease venous hypertension. The preventive measures after
healing should be followed for preventing the recurring of ulcers. Patient education along
with regular checkups and compression stocking are the preventive measures for minimizing
the recurrence risk (Ontario, 2019). Combinations of continued use of compression and
surgical correction of the causes have depicted to be significantly decreasing the recurrence
of the venous leg ulcers. Compression stocking applying higher pressure to the region of
ankle decreases the pressure in the leg’s higher areas. Compression therapy assists to treat
lymphatic and venous insufficiency. The most common compression therapy systems are the
compression bandages which provideaid ulcer healing and sustained compression. Other
types of compression therapy are intermittent pneumatic and boots devices (Weller,
Buchbinder& Johnston, 2016).
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The non-adherence levels can be seen in the compression stockings. The most common
reasons for non- adherence are a pain, perceived ineffectiveness, discomfort, skin irritation,
excessive heat, difficulties in donning stockings, appearance and cost. It is important for the
patients to ask the healthcare practitioners whether they can use the compression stockings or
not. The non- adherence can be associated with physical properties of stockings like wear and
fit or due to the attitudinal reasons that are often not stated (Wade, Paton &Woolacott, 2016).
A higher level of non-adherence is considered to be a major issue because it is the major
reason for recurrence in chronic venous insufficiency. The difficulty in the use of
compression stocking and high regular replacement cost is considered to be the greatest
barriers. However, compression stockings play a significant role in preventing the recurrence
of the venous leg ulcer and it is important for the patients to use it for a longer period of time
(Mol et al., 2016). Patients should be provided with appropriate pressure compression in
order to prevent the recurrence.
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References
Mol, G., van de Ree, M., Klok, F., Tegelberg, M., Sanders, F., &Koppen, S. et al. (2016).
One versus two years of elastic compression stockings for prevention of post-thrombotic
syndrome (OCTAVIA study): randomised controlled trial. BMJ, i2691.doi:
10.1136/bmj.i2691
Ontario, H. (2019). Compression Stockings for the Prevention of Venous Leg Ulcer
Recurrence: A Health Technology Assessment. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6394515/
Raju, S. (2019).Compliance with Compression Stockings in Chronic Venous Disease* -
Servier - Phlebolymphology. Retrieved from
https://www.phlebolymphology.org/compliance-with-compression-stockings-in-
chronic-venous-disease/
Wade, R., Paton, F., &Woolacott, N. (2016).Systematic review of patient preference and
adherence to the correct use of graduated compression stockings to prevent deep vein
thrombosis in surgical patients. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 73(2), 336-348. doi:
10.1111/jan.13148
Weller, C., Buchbinder, R., & Johnston, R. (2016). Interventions for helping people adhere to
compression treatments to aid healing of venous leg ulcers.
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