The lived experiences of persons with chronic venous insufficiency and lower extremity ulcers.

Purpose: The aim of this qualitative study was to describe the lived experience of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) sufferers and to explore how this chronic disease affected their health-related quality of life.

Subjects And Setting: Participants included persons with a history of venous insufficiency and leg ulcers or active venous insufficiency patients. The research setting was a hospital-based outpatient wound care clinic in a small naval community approximately 1 hour from Seattle, Washington.