Proper assessment is essential for differentiating between venous and arterial ulcers.

Your patient has a lower extremity wound. You aren’t sure what exactly you are dealing with. You know you need to measure the ankle-brachial index (ABI), but as you wait for results, some of your wound assessment findings offer clues.
Characteristics of Venous Ulcers
Let’s start with the venous ulcer, typically found on the medial lower leg, medial malleolus and superior to the medial malleolus. Seldom will you see them on the foot or above the knee. They tend to be irregular in shape, are superficial, have a red wound bed, have moderate to heavy amount of exudate and the patient may have no pain or a moderate level of pain. Surrounding skin can be warm to the touch, edematous, scaly, weepy and you may see hemosiderin staining present. An ABI provides a definitive answer and will come back at 0.9.
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