What are Varicose veins and what causes them?
Varicose veins are caused by valves that quit working correctly, which causes the blood to pool and shows up looking blue or purple twisted swollen veins. There are treatments available but only needed if swelling, aching and pain is involved. When the walls of veins become less elastic and stretched out then the valves start getting weak. When this happens blood flows backward and pools in the legs. This causes the veins to become enlarged and swollen. Varicose veins normally happen in your legs, ankles and feet.
What symptoms can you have and what are the dangers?
- The symptoms that you can have are:
- Twisted, bulging, swollen veins and are blue or dark purple
- Aching legs
- Legs feel heavy especially after exercise
- Minor injury may bleed longer
- Lipodermatosclerosis or skin shrinking
- Ankles can swell
- Spider veins
- Skin discoloration
- Skin being red and itchy
- Leg cramps
- Restless leg syndrome
- Whitish patches around ankles
There are dangers that can occur and they include:
- Bleeding
- Blood clots
- Chronic venous insufficiency
How can you manage varicose veins?
You can manage this by taking breaks and not standing or sitting for extended periods of time. Elevating your legs above your heart periodicaly throughout the day. Engage in a consistent exercise regime that includes a healthy diet. Make sure to wear loose fitting clothing and invest in a pair of compression socks or stockings. Before starting any physical activity if you have a family history of varicose veins, talk with your doctor about the best forms of exercise to help reduce your risk of varicse veins.
Can you treat varicose vein non-surgically?
There are ways to treat varicose veins non-surgically but it depends on the severity of your veins and the potential for more serious health problems that could arise if they go untreated. You can use the compression dressings that puts the pressure on your legs to help push the blood back where it goes. The other non-surgical treatment is injections. Injections are not for everyone because some people do not like injections. Normally one treatment of injections is enough for it to treat varicose veins non-surgically. Some veins take different treatments because each one is different. There are also laser treatments that can be done to close the vein to where the blood is not pooling in the legs.
What can you do to help your veins?
There are many things that you can do to help your veins in your legs that does not require surgery. Non-surgical treatments are the best for the person because they do not have the long heal time that surgery requires. You can do a lot of things to help your legs when your veins are giving you trouble that do not require surgery. Surgery should be the last resort and if you can try things that does not require even seeing a doctor, then that should be what you do. You should try the things that you can do to help heal your legs such as compression dressing and injections. There are times that just one treatment would be enough to heal your legs and make it to where you are not in pain.
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