It is at this stage that it is called phlegmasia alba dolens.

"Phlegmasia alba dolens" literally means "painful white edema".

Phlegmasia alba dolens (also colloquially known as milk leg or white leg) is part of a spectrum of diseases related to deep vein thrombosis.

Phlegmasia alba dolens is distinguished, clinically, from phlegmasia cerulea dolens in that there is no ischemia.

On occasion, new mothers have a condition called phlegmasia alba dolens (phlegmasia - inflammation, alba - white, dolens - pain), which sounds much less threatening when a physician refers to it as milk leg.