Patient was educated on the causes of edema as follows:
- Edema occurs when fluid leaks out of tiny blood vessels or capillaries in your body.
- Edema can happen due to-damage to veins in the extremities
- Chronic damage to the veins in the extremities, result in accumulation of fluid in the veins and leaking of fluid from the veins into the surrounding tissues of bilateral lower extremities, thus resulting in edema.
- Edema can also happen due to-damage to the lymphatic system
- Lymphatic system usually helps with draining the fluid that has leaked from the circulation, back into the circulation.
- So, when there is damage to the lymphatic system, the drainage of this fluid is affected and consequently, fluid settles outside the circulation and between the tissues, resulting in edema.
- Apart from these, edema can result as a side effect from other conditions, such as steroid use and pregnancy.
