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Varicose veins, leg ulcers and compression stockings
Varicose veins, leg ulcers and compression stockings: this guide covers what varicose veins actually are, spider veins and why treating them is cosmetic…
This guide is general education, not a diagnosis or an individual treatment plan. Urgent, severe or worsening symptoms belong with the local emergency service or a qualified clinician.
What this guide covers
This guide covers what varicose veins actually are, spider veins and why treating them is cosmetic, aching heavy legs by evening, chronic venous insufficiency and the CEAP stages in plain words, venous eczema and the brown staining that precedes an ulcer, a venous leg ulcer and why compression heals it, phlebitis, and the DVT page that every one of them links to: one calf swollen and painful, especially after a long drive, flight or plaster cast, is an urgent assessment and not a stocking question.
Plus the practical family: compression classes in mmHg, how to measure for stockings, how to actually get them on, flight stockings, standing jobs, pregnancy veins. One focused section asks: "Compression class 1 or 2: what the mmHg numbers mean".
How to use it
Start with the description that most closely matches your question about Varicose veins, leg ulcers and compression stockings. Use the evidence section to understand what is known, then use the boundary section to decide when self-education should stop and clinical care should begin.
The page keeps the main question, its evidence base and its limits together in one canonical place. That makes it useful as a quick orientation and avoids splitting a broad subject into shallow pages before each narrower answer has enough verified material of its own.
Search vocabulary in four languages
Terminology changes across borders. These are example phrases people use for the same subject in Estonian, Finnish, Russian and English; they are included as a practical vocabulary aid, not as hidden keywords.
| Language | Example phrase |
|---|---|
| Estonian | veenilaiendid jalgadel ravi |
| Estonian | kompressioonsukad klass mmHg |
| Finnish | suonikohjut hoito |
| Russian | компрессионные чулки класс компрессии |
| English | one calf swollen and painful |
Evidence and provenance
The evidence map below records the primary, official or openly licensed material chosen for this guide. It is deliberately visible so a reader can tell the difference between a rule published by an authority, a measured dataset and an editorial explanation.
Source: NICE CG168 varicose veins (official), ESVS clinical practice guidelines on chronic venous disease (EJVES, open access), CEAP 2020 revision (published), RAL-GZ 387 compression classes (standard, cited). · checked 2026-09-09
Source names are preserved even where an authority changes its web address. No figure is added to this launch page unless it is already present in the cited source description or can be computed from a named dataset.
Scope and boundaries
/swelling triages a swollen leg by cause; this is the venous system itself and the garment that treats it.
Connected TempoLife guides
The following paths are the intentional hand-offs named in the brief. They keep adjacent subjects separate while making the next useful reference easy to find.
Jobs
Continue to the related TempoLife reference.
Prenatal
Continue to the related TempoLife reference.
Swelling
Continue to the related TempoLife reference.
Why it belongs on TempoLife
/jobs for standing work, /prenatal, /swelling, /travel.
Frequently asked questions
What does this guide cover?
This guide covers what varicose veins actually are, spider veins and why treating them is cosmetic, aching heavy legs by evening, chronic venous insufficiency and the CEAP stages in plain words, venous eczema and the brown staining that precedes an ulcer, a venous leg ulcer and why compression heals it, phlebitis, and the DVT page that every one of them links to: one calf swollen and painful, especially after a long drive, flight or plaster cast, is an urgent assessment and not a stocking question. Plus the…
What evidence does it use?
NICE CG168 varicose veins (official), ESVS clinical practice guidelines on chronic venous disease (EJVES, open access), CEAP 2020 revision (published), RAL-GZ 387 compression classes (standard, cited).
Where does this guide stop?
/swelling triages a swollen leg by cause; this is the venous system itself and the garment that treats it.
Turn the reference into a routine
TempoLife brings food, movement, sleep and everyday health habits into one private place when you want to track what happens next.