ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on local wound care for venous ulcers and, in particular, the role of wound dressings. It reviews what is the usual or customary care of venous ulcers, whereas the second part will examine recent randomized controlled trials on not only newer wound dressings for venous ulcers, but also other elements of local wound care. The majority of wound treatment studies of venous ulcers can be classified as providing low-quality evidence derived from case series. A chronic venous ulcer can be defined as a wound that has failed to proceed through the orderly and timely series of events which should occur to produce a durable structural and cosmetic closure. A variety of therapies have been developed to apply to venous ulcers as active therapies in order to stimulate acceleration of healing in addition to standard care. Platelet-derived products have been developed for the treatment of venous ulcers and are clinically available.
