Varicose veins on the legs are not only a cosmetic problem that worries people because of their attractiveness, but also a dangerous disease that requires adequate treatment and prevention.
The causes of varicose veins are many: from a sedentary lifestyle, physical overload and ending with hormonal disorders, congenital weakness of the walls of blood vessels, pregnancy. What happens during varicose veins? With varicose veins of the lower extremities, they lose normal elasticity and stretch under blood pressure.
The valves in the veins are normally locked and when blood passes through them, they close and allow the blood to flow back. If the valves do not work properly, blood can flow freely downward, leading to blood stasis.
In this regard, the veins cannot cope with the pressure, they expand, the valves are no longer able to block the large lumen. . . all this provokes the beginning of the initial phase of varicose veins (see photo).
Why do varicose veins appear and what is it? The main risk factors for the development of the disease are considered to be genetic predisposition and sex. Because of their love of high heels, hormonal changes during pregnancy, and taking contraceptives, women fall victim to varicose veins twice as often as men.
Disease development promotes:
Secondary varicose veins occur with leg injuries, heart defects, liver and spleen dysfunctions. In this case, first of all, appropriate treatment of the primary disease is carried out.
Genetic predisposition and gender are considered major risk factors for developing the disease. Because of their love of high heels, hormonal changes during pregnancy, and taking contraceptives, women fall victim to varicose veins twice as often as men.
Disease development promotes:
Secondary varicose veins occur with leg injuries, heart defects, liver and spleen dysfunctions. In this case, first of all, appropriate treatment of the primary disease is carried out.
What promotes varicose veins
The development of varicose veins is based on congenital weakness of the venous wall, insufficiency of the valves of the superficial veins and an increase in venous pressure in this regard. Special one-way valves prevent the return of blood and stop it from stagnating in one place, when they are destroyed, the movement of blood from the tissue back to the heart is disturbed. It should be noted that conservative treatment does not affect venous pressure.
There are 3 stages of symptom progression in the development of varicose veins.
By themselves, varicose veins are not considered a very serious disease, but if it has already developed, it will never go away on its own, and even more, it will progress, leading to all sorts of complications that pose the greatest danger.
The first signs that indicate the onset of varicose veins:
In the later stages, spider veins, bulging veins and various seals appear on the skin, which indicates congestion in the vessels.
Diagnosing the early stages of the disease is quite difficult because in the initial stage there are no spider veins and varicose veins that rise above the skin.
Symptoms of early varicose veins:
Often, before the first spider veins appear or the veins are found in places where they were not previously visible, the patient does not feel other symptoms of the disease, and the discomfort is caused only by cosmetic defects on the skin. As a rule, in the early stages the symptoms of varicose veins completely disappear or significantly decrease with rest, so they often go unnoticed.
One or more varicose veins protruding above the skin indicate disease progression and neglect. Prolonged standing causes painful pain in the area of the nodes, numbness, tingling, "creeping", cracking in the legs. At the end of the day, swelling often occurs, which disappears after a night's sleep. You can judge edema by the free shoes in the morning that start to press in the evening.
Thrombophlebitis is one of the most common complications of varicose veins. In addition, the increased pressure in the venous part leads to the penetration of erythrocytes through the vessel walls into the tissue. Therefore, skin pigmentation, its thickening and tissue hypoxia are observed, which contributes to the appearance of trophic ulcers. Even with minor damage to the skin in the area of the nodule, it can rupture and cause heavy bleeding.
In order to diagnose varicose veins of the lower extremities and prescribe the appropriate treatment, the specialist will offer the patient a comprehensive examination that includes various methods.
Only a highly qualified phlebologist can diagnose varicose veins.
The complicated course of varicose veins is accompanied by the formation of thrombosis and inflammation of the veins, trophic ulcers and skin disorders. These complications are manifested in discoloration of the skin on the feet, redness, darkening, blue skin.
Frequent ankle swelling is also common, especially when walking or standing. In the area of the lower leg, there is pain when walking, pain along the meandering vein, hardening of the skin and the formation of ulcers of various sizes on it.
Pregnancy significantly increases the risk of developing varicose veins of the lower extremities, which is facilitated by the following reasons:
For varicose veins in the legs, treatment may not be a medical need unless the symptoms are problematic.
However, some people may want to be treated for varicose veins for cosmetic reasons because they are not happy with their appearance.
Let's look at the main methods to help you solve this problem.
Physical activity - brisk walking, gymnastics, swimming and exercise in the water (excluding sports exercises with a heavy load on the legs - tennis, weightlifting, jumping) play an important role in treatment and prevention.
Conservative treatment of varicose veins is usually prescribed to those who have clear contraindications for surgery.
A similar treatment is also indicated if the patient has a slight varicose vein, which is a purely cosmetic defect. The goal of conservative therapy is also to prevent further progression of this disease. For that purpose, patients are recommended to apply bandages on the legs affected by varicose veins with an elastic bandage. In addition, compression stockings have been shown in varicose veins. People who have a tendency to have varicose veins or are already sick with this disease should regularly put their feet on a raised platform during the day, resting for a few minutes. There are also special exercises for the lower leg and foot, aimed at activating the musculoskeletal pump. This is a periodic extension and bending of the ankle and knee joints.
The patient should be careful not to allow various toilet objects to shrink the lower leg and thigh, as this can significantly impede venous blood flow.
With elastic compression you can activate blood flow in deep veins, prevent edema, reduce the amount of blood in saphenous veins, improve metabolic processes in the body and blood microcirculation.
But in order to achieve positive results, it is important to wrap the leg properly. This procedure must be done in the morning, before getting out of bed. The bandage starts from the toes to the thighs, and the bandage should be slightly tightened. In the process of bending, be sure to grab the heel and ankle joint. The bandage should cover half of the previous round with each turn around the limb. Buy only certified elastic bandage and compression stockings.
Treating varicose veins also involves wearing comfortable shoes that should have a low heel and a hard sole. You should not stand for long, allow physical stress, stay long in rooms with high temperature and humidity. In sleep, it is advisable to keep your legs in an elevated position.
Patients should limit fluid and salt intake and try to get rid ofoverweight. For the treatment of varicose veins, it is occasionally necessary to take diuretics, drugs that improve the tone of the veins. In addition, if there are indications, the patient may be prescribed drugs that stimulate microcirculation in the tissues. Treatment of varicose veins may also include the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
If the patient has an uncomplicated form of the disease, he is shown physical therapy. Swimming, other water procedures, foot baths with warm water to which 5-10% sodium chloride solution is added are very useful.
Local methods of therapy are very often used in the treatment of varicose veins. But such treatment must be used in combination with other methods of medication. Topical drugs against varicose veins are produced in the form of gels, ointments, creams. Most of these medicines containheparinor venoactive components. Ointments for varicose veins help to normalize the tone of the vein walls, they can correct disorders of lymph outflow and microcirculation. Several different active ingredients are present in some topical compositions.
If there is a secondary infection during the varicose vein process, it is advisable to use external agents withantibioticsorantiseptics.
hirudotherapyhas long been used to treat varicose veins. The use of leeches, which secrete hirudin, allows you to thin the blood, promotes the resorption ofblood clots, getting rid of spider veins and varicose veins. In addition, hirudotherapy for varicose veins can reduce leg pain and overcome edema. However, it is important to apply chiropractic therapy in the very early stages of varicose veins. This treatment should not be used by people withhemophilia,anemia,hypotension,pregnant women.
However, a radical method of treating varicose veins is surgery. It is performed to remove venous-venous reflux. Such an operation is not performed if the patient has concomitant diseases of the lungs, cardiovascular system, kidneys and liver. Such surgery should not be performed on pregnant women, as well as people suffering from purulent diseases. Modern technologies enable the use of endoscopic techniques for such an operation.
If a person has only small branches dilated, sclerotherapy is allowed. This operation involves injecting a sclerosing solution into a vein to adhere to the vein walls. After that, repeated injections are performed in other parts of the vein, while complete obliteration of the vein is achieved.
In varicose veins, combined surgical therapy is used, in which large trunks of altered veins are removed, and small branches with sclerotherapy. After surgery, patients are advised to continue wearing the elastic bandage for 8-12 weeks.Those looking for an effective and miraculous remedy for varicose veins will immediately have to worry: even the most modern and expensive drugs are not able to completely remove varicose veins. They help relieve pain, swelling, and even improve the condition of the venous wall, but there is no complete recovery.
In addition, conservative treatment brings a tangible effect only in the initial stage of the disease, after it is carried out to prevent further development of varicose veins. The leading role in the treatment of this disease belongs to phytopreparations based on natural herbal substances. However, keep in mind that most venotonic drugs cause photosensitization; when taking them, you must not allow the sun’s rays to hit the exposed areas of the skin.
With the use of medication, relaxing measures and performing special exercises for the legs, doctors warmly recommend wearing compression stockings regularly: socks, stockings, leggings. They improve blood microcirculation and prevent the formation of edema. It is very important to choose the right size of elastic stockings and the degree of compression, which can be both prophylactic and therapeutic.
To improve vascular tone, use venotonic tablets against varicose veins - phlebotonics. These compositions are analogous and contain a purified flavonoid fraction consisting of 90% diosmin. Take one tablet twice a day, the course is selected individually.
Wild chestnut preparations can be used to reduce capillary permeability, reduce blood viscosity and increase venous tone
There are a huge number of methods for treating varicose veins on the legs with folk remedies, both for external and internal use. Below are the most common:
In addition to folk remedies, many patients with varicose veins supplement therapy with special gymnastics - Mikulin's exercises allow you to feel a significant improvement.
Very oftenacute superficial venous thrombophlebitismanifests as a complication of varicose veins. Sometimes the damage results in rupture of varicose veins and bleeding. When blood is spilled from a ruptured node, very significant blood loss is possible.
In addition, arterial blood flow slows down due to increased pressure in the venous system. Therefore,hypoxiaand subsequentoxygen starvationmay develop. Due to the development of such a condition, tissue cells can die, which is a dangerous process for the body. Due to the pronounced stagnation of blood in the veins, toxins accumulate in the tissues.
Complications of this disease become blockages in the blood, malnutrition of the leg tissue, the appearance of pigmentation and darkening of the skin.The layer of subcutaneous fat gradually becomes thicker,dermatitis,venous trophic ulcersappear. In very rare cases, such ulcers degenerate into malignant formations.
If the disease persists for a long time, then the person may subsequently developchronic venous insufficiency.
But the most dangerous complication of varicose veins ispulmonary embolism. This disease is fatal.
If you are at risk, your relatives have suffered from varicose veins or have to spend a lot of time standing by the nature of the job - you need to pay special attention to the condition of your legs so as not to miss the first "bells".
Basic prevention measures help prevent disease and also slow down the progression of existing varicose veins.
Prevention measures:
Despite its prevalence, varicose veins are difficult to treat. When the first alarming symptoms appear, do not delay a visit to the vascular surgeon, because the sooner the disease is discovered, the better the chances of avoiding surgery.
Varicose veins on the legs are a disease that can be treated for years, even after surgical removal, it reappears in 80% of cases.
The prognosis depends on the stage at which treatment is started. A set of preventive measures in the early stages (treatment of varicose veins with venotonics 2 times a year and a healthy lifestyle) allows to stop the further development of the disease. You will need to adhere to a strict prevention framework throughout your life.
In the later stages (with the appearance of pronounced deformity, nodules, edema and signs of oxygen starvation) the prognosis determines the presence of concomitant diseases (diabetes mellitus, obesity) and the patient's willingness to follow the doctor's recommendations (be examined, take medication, lose weight).
In diabetes mellitus, complications of varicose veins (thrombophlebitis, trophic ulcer) develop in 89%.
Varicose veins are considered a non-life-threatening disease, but its complications can significantly worsen quality of life and prognosis. With deep vein thrombosis, about 50% of patients die from thromboembolism within 3 months.