**7. Prognosis**

It is commonly believed that patients with established PTS have a poor prognosis, and that the majority will have sustained disability. In recent years, a few reports have suggested that prognosis of the PTS might not be as poor as previously reported (69-71). Indeed, when provided with elastic compression stockings and regularly supervised, more than 50% of patients either remain stable or improve during long-term follow-up, irrespective of the initial degree of PTS (69-71). Clinical presentation helps predict the prognosis, as the outcome of patients who have initially severe manifestations appears to be more favorable than that of patients whose symptoms progressively deteriorate over time (71). However, at present there is no way to reliably predict the course of PTS in individual patients.
