Many people consider varicose veins to be a cosmetic problem. Spider veins or protruding veins make your legs unsightly, but they also warn of more serious health problems. Quickly recognizing the signs of varicose veins, carrying out treatment and preventing relapses is the main task of those who want to maintain health and retain the beauty of their legs as long as possible.
What are varicose veins
When answering this question, many will say that the main sign of varicose veins is the presence of unsightly and protruding veins. This is due to the fact that the vein wall expands, stretches and the vessel loses its tone. Indeed, dilated veins are the main manifestation of varicose veins, but why does this happen?
Blood flows through the veins from bottom to top. In this case, the leg muscles play the role of a sort of pump: by contracting, they "raise" the blood through the vein to the heart. But if during the day you mainly sit and move little, the muscles contract poorly and the mechanism that helps the blood rise into the vein fails. The blood in the vessel stagnates, which creates a prerequisite for the development of varicose veins.
The second important mechanism that ensures normal blood circulation in the leg veins is the presence of valves in the walls of the veins. Normally, they close and prevent blood from flowing up and down. If the valves weaken, reflux occurs - a backflow of blood. As a result, it stagnates and stretches the ship. By losing tone, the venous wall dilates and the vessel can no longer perform its function 100%. This condition is called varicose veins.
So, varicose veins are a consequence of the weakening of 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 knobby and tortuous.
What factors influence the formation of varicose veins
Risk factors influencing 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, in athletes).
- Hormonal imbalances that affect the condition of the venous valves. That is why varicose veins often accompany pregnancy, and adolescents and young people who are actively experiencing hormonal changes are also at risk. Varicose veins also threaten women who take hormonal contraceptives.
- Heredity. The vascular wall includes 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 in the vein wall. This determines the congenital predisposition to varicose veins.
Pay attention to the following points: the presence of varicose veins in loved ones, the presence or absence of hormonal fluctuations (taking contraceptives and other hormonal drugs, pregnancy, breastfeeding), a sufficient level of physical activity during the day.
Why are varicose veins dangerous?
In the absence of timely diagnosis and correct treatment, varicose veins in later stages can cause the development of such serious complications as:
- rupture of a dilated vein followed by massive bleeding;
- phlebitis - inflammation of the vascular 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 impairs blood circulation;
- thromboembolism - a condition in which a blood clot breaks away from the site of its formation and is 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 legs, 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 look for
Thus, varicose veins are one of the most common vascular pathologies. Many of us, especially office workers, are at risk. To understand if it is time for you to consult a phlebologist, answer a few questions:
- Do your feet swell at the end of the day? Do you feel heaviness, pain or cramps in your legs at night?
- How much time during the day do you spend in the same position: sitting or standing?
- Have your loved ones suffered from varicose veins?
- Are spider veins and twisty red capillaries appearing on your legs?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, we advise you to consult a doctor. In a medical center specializing in the treatment of varicose veins, you can undergo ultrasound diagnostics (this lasts about 20 minutes), which will help identify possible varicose veins or assess the risks of their development. A phlebologist will give recommendations on effective prevention or treatment.
What to do if varicose veins appear
After the phlebologist has diagnosed varicose veins, he selects treatment tactics taking into account the stage of the disease and the severity of clinical symptoms. Therapeutic measures can combine conservative, medicinal 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 digestion processes, reduce body weight (if necessary);
- wear compression clothing of a certain compression class (stockings, socks or tights).
Additionally, as part of a comprehensive treatment, the doctor may recommend external remedies 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, due to which dilated veins return to their original state;
- heparin - reduces blood viscosity, reduces the risk of blood clots, increases blood flow;
- anti-inflammatory - helps eliminate inflammation and pain.
The basis of drug treatment 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 treating varicose veins is non-surgical methods. They make it possible to stop the progression of the pathological process, block blood flow in damaged veins, eliminate unpleasant symptoms of the disease, and also restore the aesthetics of the legs without scarring and long-term rehabilitation.
The modern phlebology center uses all modern treatment methods:
- Sclerotherapy. A modern procedure for eliminating varicose veins by injecting them with a special substance - sclerosing. With the help of such a drug, the dilated vessels "stick together" and are subsequently cut off from the general blood flow, and blood begins to flow through healthy veins.
- Laser and radiofrequency vein ablation. Both methods are similar: they are based on thermal damage to the vein wall, as a result of which it "seals", turns into a scar, and then resorbs. The interventions are full-fledged alternatives to traditional operations and are carried out under ultrasound guidance. This makes it possible to act only on pathological lesions without damaging healthy tissues.
- In cases where surgical intervention is necessary, the clinic performs gentle and minimally invasive operations: phlebectomy, miniphlebectomy, stripping, crossectomy. They are applicable almost always, even in difficult cases.
Very often, a combined approach is used in the treatment of varicose veins. For example, large dilated veins are cut off from blood circulation by radiofrequency and laser treatment, and small superficial vessels with tributaries are cut by sclerotherapy. In this case, conservative treatment is carried out simultaneously.