Overview of diagnosis and treatment of varicose veins
What are Varicose Veins? Should I be Concerned About Varicose Veins?
Have you noticed some large bulging ropelike and knotty looking veins in your legs? If you have, chances are they are varicose veins. Varicose veins are not spider veins. Spider veins are more cosmetic in nature and are not often associated with a serious medical problem. Varicose veins affect more women than men and by the age of 50 it is estimated that 40% of women and 20% of men have varicose veins.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is largely through a simple visual examination. Your doctor may feel around for deeper knotted or engorged veins that are not readily visible. In order to determine the extent of the problem however, your doctor may do an ultrasound to find out if there are any actual blockages or blood clots in your veins.
Causes of Varicose Veins
Veins are the part of the vascular system that takes blood back to the heart. Since the blood has to travel upward contrary to gravity the veins have little leaflet valves that prevent the blood from traveling back downward. As the leg muscles pump the blood through the veins the little flap-like valves open with the blood being pushed through them and then flap back closed. There are a number of factors that might cause a valve to malfunction: an enlarged vein, a weak vein, a hereditary condition or previous or current blood clots. All of these things will contribute to the flap of the leaflet valve not closing properly. This malfunction will allow blood to pool into a segment of the vein causing it to become engorged and distended.
What Happens if Left Untreated?
If left untreated, varicose veins may cause uncomfortable aching in your legs, leg cramps, swelling, itchy legs and restless legs. Serious and dangerous blood clots may form in deeper veins (deep vein thrombosis). Your ability to walk or stand for long periods of time will be diminished affecting your quality of life or ability to work. As varicose veins worsen, skin ulcers may appear above the ankle that are persistent and difficult to heal.
Treatment
Treatment of varicose veins will be determined by the severity of the condition. A common approach is sclerotherapy in which a solution is injected into the varicose vein to collapse it. Other methods are sometimes used to collapse or close veins, including thermal ablation and laser surgery. The outcome of these procedures are that the vein is no longer useable and blood will find a new pathway through healthier veins.
For more serious or complicated conditions, the doctor may choose to remove the varicose veins in a procedure called vein stripping. Small incisions are made and the long veins are pulled out.
Depending on the individual a doctor may choose a combination of procedures to treat varicose veins. Man procedures are done on an outpatient basis.
After surgery a patient may receive lifestyle counseling along with other physical therapies and exercises.
I had some schlerotherapy done on mine but it came back. It is
the payback I get for wearing those killer heels.Great information
here
Posted 80 months ago
Dr. Lowell Kabnick
There is actually some misleading information in here. Surgical
vein stripping is almost never performed anymore, and the
description of the small incisions where the vein is pulled out is
actually describing phlebectomy rather than vein stripping.
Phlebectomy is still a minimally invasive adjunctive procedure
performed often along with endovenous laser surgery or
radiofrequency ablation. Sclerotherapy is typically used for
smaller, spider veins. Also, spider veins can be an early symptom
of venous reflux disease, the underlying factor in varicose veins
and venous ulcers. A proper ultrasound examination can determine
the amount of refulx and therefore will determine your best course
of action.
Thank you for your valuable feedback I did mention the
ultrasound procedure in my first section. I tweeked the article and
hopefully covered the points regarding the issue of schlerotherapy
used mainly for spider veins and also corrected the terminology for
vein stripping to phlebectomy. I see on a couple other medical
sites that the procedures (stripping and phlebectomy) both remove
the vein but stripping seems not to be the preferred method. The
website Veindirectory.org
http://www.veindirectory.org/glossary/2011/3/what_is_ambulatory_phlebectomy_and_how_does_it_treat_varicose_veins.html
comments that with phlebectomy there are fewer complications,
smaller incisions and that it only requires local anesthesia rather
than the general anesthesia required by vein stripping. Again, your
feedback is very much appreciated.
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Excellent reading...very informative, Thanks Judith for posting.voted up