Plantar ulceration in patients with leprosy

A controlled trial was implemented to investigate the hypothesis that plantar ulcer sites associated with leprosy, in subjects who were supplied with foot orthoses, would heal more quickly than those in a control group. The population was comprised of individuals with impairments associated with leprosy, living near a leprosy hospital in India. Ulcer area was compared in the two groups and assessed at three-monthly intervals from July 1993 to March 1994. At the March 1994 assessment 58% of ulcers in the experimental group had healed but only 14% in the control group. At this point patients in the control group were supplied with orthoses and three months later, in June 1994, 60% of the ulcers in the experimental group and 62% of ulcers in the control group had healed. The results of this study demonstrate that orthotic intervention can significantly reduce the duration of ulceration.