Many a times we see that we have pain in some or the other part of the body and the skin is rough to touch. Many a times it so happens that the touch to that part is unbearable and it burns. On the other instance, one can also observe that when he eats food, immediately he has burning sensation on the touch of food to the mouth and pungent or spicy food is not bearable to the mouth.
The same feeling appears when the food when reaches the stomach causes a lot of acidity, burning, nausea and vomiting. And sometimes it also happens that burning starts 2 to 3 hours after eating food. One cannot bear the pain, the burning and when he goes to the toilet to pass stools, there is lots of burning sensation in the stools as well.
What is all this? This is nothing but the injuries to the skin and mucous membranes (The lips, the anal region, the tongue, the internal parts of the throat, the food pipe i.e. the esophagus, the stomach, the intestines, the rectum and the anal canal are all sensitive parts to extremes of circumstances and injuries happen to these parts which have no external reason in their formation and are known as Ulcers.
What is an Ulcer?
A sore on the skin or mucous membrane in which there is destruction of the local tissues is known as Ulcer.
In the destruction of the tissues, the uppermost layer - the Epidermis - is destroyed completely and the layer below the epidermis - the Dermis - is destroyed in portions. To some extent, the fat layer may also get corroded in an ulcer.
Common Sites of Ulcer
Ulcers happen most commonly on the lower extremities, the stomach and the intestines, accordingly get their different names.
How does a Ulcer form?
Whenever skin or any particular tissue is exposed to extreme environments like heat or cold, irritation or if the particular part of skin is deprived of blood and oxygen supply, an Ulcer can occur in that part. This situation happens because of lack of movements, constant pressure on the part of skin, which causes stress to the circulation of blood to that part of the skin and thus any part of the body which does not receive proper nutrition gets destroyed - Ulcer formation takes place. Sometimes these ulcers, being open parts in the skin, get invaded by micro-organisms and infection happens to that part and pus formation takes place.
How does a Ulcer appear?
Ulcer appears as a discontinuation in the skin which is very red and sometimes swollen or sometimes depressed deeper than the normal skin layer. It is fiery red in color and the surrounding skin is also reddened.
Dr. Apurva Tamhane
