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It Is essential for nurses to develop their skills in the education of patients with leg ulcers. No ulcer will be healed, or prevented, unless the patient co-operates with, and participates in, the treatment. Full compliance is more likely if the patient understands what is being done, and why. Teaching patients the self-help skills which they should practise for the rest of their lives to promote healing and prevent ulcer recurrence requires patience, skill and an understanding of the individual's personal circumstances1.

Six hundred patients with chronic leg ulcers were assessed and classified with regard to social class, mobility and employment. It has been shown that there is no increased incidence of chronic leg ulceration in the more disadvantaged socio-economic groups, but when leg ulceration occurs it is more likely to be recurrent and take longer to heal. Although in only 11% of patients was mobility affected by leg ulceration alone, the condition interfered with work and or leisure activities to a moderate or severe degree in 42%.