Base

The base of an ulcer usually consists of granulation tissue or slough. Sometimes the floor of the ulcer will provide extra information about the nature of the ulcer:

• wash-leather appearance is seen in syphilitic ulcers
• bluish unhealthy granulation tissue seen in tuberculosis ulcers
• no granulation tissue is often present in ischaemic ulcers - in this case structures such as tendons may lie bear in the base of the ulcer
• solid brown or grey dead tissue suggests full-thickness skin death
• the redness of the granulation tissue is proportional to the underlying vascularity of the ulcer site (and therefore of the ulcer's ability to heal)