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Those of us who must often care for patients with leg ulcers may doubt whether a monograph with this title can really tell us anything new or helpful. A continuing flow of new "gimmicks" to heal leg ulcers gives testimony to the inadequacies of existing techniques and makes us leery of each new idea. Yet, here is a briefly presented approach to the pathophysiology and treatment of these vexing lesions which is optimistic and effective. Even more impressive is the rational and systematic approach to the understanding of leg ulcers.
The presentation centers around the categorization of almost all leg ulcers as being due to the following: (1) a combination of edema and trauma, (2) an incompetent perforating vein, or (3) arterial insufficiency. Since most leg ulcers may be ascribed to one of these causes, the discussion and suggestions are useful and well done. However, this classification represents drastic oversimplification;