Many people consider varicose veins to be an aesthetic problem. Spider veins or protruding veins make your legs look unsightly, but they also warn of more serious health problems. Early observation of signs of varicose veins, treatment and prevention of recurrences is the main task for those who want to maintain health and preserve the beauty of their legs for as long as possible.
What are varicose veins?
In answer to this question, many will say that the main sign of varicose veins is unsightly, protruding veins. This happens due to the fact that the wall of the vein expands, stretches and the vessel loses its tone. Indeed, varicose veins are the main manifestation of varicose veins, but why does this happen?
Blood flows through the veins from the bottom up. In this case, the leg muscles play the role of a kind of pump: by contracting, they "lift" the blood through the vein to the heart. But if during the day you usually sit and move a little, then the muscles contract badly and the mechanism that helps the blood to rise through the vein fails. The blood in the vessel stagnates, which creates the condition for the development of varicose veins.
The second important mechanism that ensures the normal flow of blood through the veins of the legs is the presence of valves in the walls of the veins. Normally, they close and prevent blood flow from top to bottom. If the valves weaken, reflux occurs - backflow of blood. As a result, it stagnates and stretches the vessel. Losing tone, the venous wall expands and the vessel can no longer perform its function 100%. This condition is called varicose veins.
Thus, varicose veins are a consequence of the weakening of the venous valves, which begin to allow blood to flow in the opposite direction, which leads to its stagnation. Varicose veins most often affect the superficial veins of the legs. Affected veins are clearly visible under the skin and appear knotted and tortuous.
What factors affect the formation of varicose veins?
The risk factors that affect the development of varicose veins can be divided into several groups:
- Long-term load on the vascular wall - this can be a monotonous load (forced sitting or standing during the day), as well as high loads associated with lifting weights (for example, among athletes).
- Hormonal imbalances that affect the condition of the venous valves. That is why varicose veins often accompany pregnancy, and teenagers and young people who are actively undergoing hormonal changes are also at risk. Varicose veins also threaten women who take hormonal contraceptives.
- Heredity. The vascular wall includes the so-called structural proteins - collagen and elastin. Their ratio ensures the elasticity of the vein. A person may have a congenital disorder in the ratio of these proteins, which leads to weakness of the vein wall. This determines the congenital predisposition to varicose veins.
Pay attention to the following points: presence of varicose veins in close relatives, presence or absence of hormonal fluctuations (taking contraceptives and other hormonal drugs, pregnancy, breastfeeding), sufficient physical activity during the day.
Why are varicose veins dangerous?
In the absence of early diagnosis and proper treatment, varicose veins in the last stages can cause the development of such serious complications as:
- rupture of an enlarged vein followed by massive bleeding.
- phlebitis - inflammation of the vessel wall.
- thrombophlebitis - an inflammatory process of the vascular wall with the formation of a blood clot (thrombus) on its inner surface.
- thrombosis - blockage of the lumen of a vein with a blood clot, which affects blood flow.
- thromboembolism - a condition in which a blood clot is dislodged from its site of formation and carried with the circulating blood to other structures of the body, blocking smaller vessels and causing ischemia.
- Trophic ulcers are long-term non-healing wounds on the skin of the feet, resulting from impaired blood circulation and tissue trophism.
Many complications are difficult to treat, significantly reduce a person's quality of life and can lead to irreversible consequences.
Varicose veins: what to watch out for
Thus, varicose veins are one of the most common vascular pathologies. Many of us, especially office workers, are at risk. To figure out if it's time to see a phlebologist, answer a few questions:
- Are your feet swollen at the end of the day? Do you feel heaviness, pain or leg cramps at night?
- How much time during the day do you spend in the same position - sitting or standing?
- Did your relatives suffer from varicose veins?
- Are spider veins and tortuous red capillaries appearing on your legs?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, we advise you to see a doctor. In a specialized medical center that treats varicose veins, you can undergo an ultrasound scan (lasts about 20 minutes), which will detect varicose veins, if they are present, or allow you to assess the risks of their development. A phlebologist will give recommendations for effective prevention or treatment.
What to do if varicose veins appear
After the phlebologist diagnoses varicose veins, he selects therapeutic tactics taking into account the stage of the disease and the severity of clinical symptoms. Therapeutic measures can combine conservative, pharmaceutical and surgical techniques.
As part of conservative treatment, the following are prescribed:
- dietary nutrition to improve the rheological properties of blood, strengthen the vascular wall, prevent edema, normalize digestive processes, reduce body weight (if necessary).
- wearing compression garments of a specific compression category (socks, stockings or pantyhose).
Also, as part of a comprehensive treatment, the doctor can recommend external treatments to eliminate the signs of the disease. They are available in the form of ointments, gels, creams and are divided into three large groups:
- phlebotonics (venotonics) - improve the tone of the walls of blood vessels, as a result of which dilated veins return to their original state.
- heparin - reducing blood viscosity, reducing the risk of blood clots, increasing blood flow.
- anti-inflammatory - help eliminate inflammation and pain.
The basis of drug therapy is phlebotropic drugs. Such substances improve the outflow of lymphatic fluid, blood microcirculation, reduce the permeability of vascular walls and increase their tone.
The gold standard for the treatment of varicose veins is non-surgical methods. They make it possible to stop the progression of the pathological process, block the blood flow in damaged veins, eliminate the unpleasant symptoms of the disease, and also restore the aesthetics of the legs without scars and long-term rehabilitation.
The modern phlebology center uses all modern treatment methods:
- Sclerotherapy. A modern process of removing varicose veins by injecting a special substance - a hardener. With the help of such a drug, the dilated vessel "sticks" and is then turned off from the general blood flow, and the blood begins to circulate through healthy veins.
- Vein removal with laser and radiofrequency. Both methods are similar. The operations are complete alternatives to classic operations and are performed under ultrasound guidance. This makes it possible to act only on pathological lesions without damaging healthy tissue.
- In cases where surgery is necessary, the clinic performs mild, minimally invasive procedures: phlebectomy, miniphlectomy, stripping, transverse excision. They are almost always applied, even in difficult cases.
Quite often a combined approach is used in the treatment of varicose veins. For example, large varicose veins are disabled from blood circulation using radiofrequency and laser therapy, and smaller superficial vessels with tributaries are disabled through sclerotherapy. In this case, conservative treatment is carried out at the same time.