Medical Questions & Answers

Question: My ankles keep swelling, and get worse as the day goes on. What can I do about it?
The simple (but often not practical) answer is ’sit down and put your feet up’! There are many reasons for swollen feet that get worse as the day goes on. The most common causes are advancing age with dilated veins in the legs, prolonged standing in one position (eg. hairdresser, shop assistant), a slowly weakening heart, hormonal changes before periods and with menopause, and failure of the kidneys.
There are many other rarer (and more serious) causes too, so the first step is to exclude any of these nasties by having the appropriate tests arranged by your general practitioner.
If a specific cause is found, that will be treated, but most people with this problem have swollen feet because of their age, hormones or occupation. In these situations, a fluid tablet can be prescribed that is taken when necessary to remove the excess fluid from the legs.
If you can, keep your feet elevated when sitting and wear support stockings that exert some pressure on the slack veins in the leg.

Question: My doctor has told me that I have Milroy’s disease of the leg. Could you please explain this to me?
Milroy’s disease is a rare condition in which the lymphatic system in one or both legs is faulty, and fails to remove the waste products from the leg. As a result, the leg becomes swollen, puffy and uncomfortable. The condition is hereditary (tends to pass from one generation to the next), and usually starts at puberty (12 to 14 years of age). It is far more common in women than men.
The lymphatic system is an incredibly fine network of tubes that parallel the veins throughout the body, and take some forms of waste from every cell back into the bloodstream. The lymphatic system eventually drains into a main vein near the heart.
The only treatment is elevation of the leg as much as possible, and wearing a firm elastic stocking. The main complication is infections of the swollen tissue, which must be treated with antibiotics. Some patients require constant antibiotics to prevent these infections.

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