Vein Disease - Causes
What causes varicose veins?
Arteries bring oxygen rich blood from your heart to the tissues of your body.
Veins return oxygen poor blood back to the heart so that the cycle can begin over again.
You have two kinds of leg veins, superficial and deep.
Deep veins lie in the muscles and are responsible for almost all of the blood return back to the heart.
Superficial veins lie close to the skin and are connected to the deep veins.
Normally, one way valves ensure that the blood flow goes from the feet up toward the heart
and always flows from superficial to deep veins.
When these one way valves no longer function properly, blood flows backward
toward the feet and from the deep veins to the superficial veins. This back
pressure is called venous reflux and causes dilated superficial veins in the legs called varicose veins.
The main underlying cause of varicose veins is malfunction of the normal one way valves in the veins.
Why do valves malfunction?
This can be due to either destruction of the valves or dilatation of the veins so
that the valve edges don’t meet properly. Although we do not know why
this happens, we do know that there are certain things that are related to such
findings. These predisposing factors include:
-
Age - aging causes wear and tear on
the valves in your veins.
Eventually this wear and tear causes
valves to malfunction, not close
properly, and leak.
-
Gender - women are more likely than men
to develop the condition. Hormonal
changes during pregnancy,
pre-menstruation, or menopause may
be a factor. Female hormones can
relax vein walls and cause
dilatation of the veins. Taking
hormone replacement or birth control
pills may increase your risk of
varicose veins.
-
Genetics - varicose veins tend to run in families.
-
Obesity - being overweight causes more pressure in lower extremity
veins and encourages dilatation and leakage.
-
Prolonged standing - this causes blood to pool in the lower
extremities and encourages dilatation and incompetence (or leaking) of the valves.
Vein Disease-Varicose and Spider Veins
There are two types of abnormal veins that you should be able to recognize
if you are going to understand about lower extremity venous problems.
First, there are the typical varicose veins that are dilated superficial veins on the surface of the legs.
The word “varicose” comes from the Latin word “varix” that means “twisted.”
Varicose veins are usually bulging, twisted, lumpy, and sometimes have a bluish discoloration.
These bulgy type of varicose veins are almost always due to a leak in either
the great saphenous, small saphenous, or perforator veins connecting the deep and
superficial systems. As blood backs up into the superficial veins due to the
leaky or incompetent valves, these large bulging varicose veins can become more
pronounced and larger. The pooling of the pressurized blood causes veins to
stretch and bulge and, if left untreated, these varicose veins can lead
to blood clots or skin ulcers on the leg.
Thanks to endovenous technology, the problem responsible for these bulgy varicose veins
can be corrected in the office with a minimally invasive procedure within minutes.
These procedures will be discussed further on this website.
The second type of abnormal veins are spider veins. These are typically just
below the skin surface, are not dilated or bulging, are very conspicuous and are
bluish or redish in color. Instead of being large and ropy the spider veins
are thread-like and do not pose a threat to a person’s health. They are not
usually associated with a leak in a major vein and are mostly a cosmetic problem.
Vein Disease - Signs and Symptoms of Varicose Veins
Some common signs and symptoms of varicose veins include:
- Aching pain, burning, and throbbing
- Tenderness to palpation over certain varicies (bulging veins)
- Easily tired legs
- Leg heaviness
- Leg swelling
- Itching
- Color changes with darkening of the skin
- Skin ulcers
The symptoms are usually worse with prolonged sitting or standing and
are relieved with leg elevation and/or exercise.
We see skin discoloration and skin ulcers with long standing venous disease that is not treated.
These changes are more difficult to treat and that is why it is important to seek medical advice and
treat varicose veins early before significant consequences occur.
Joseph C. Schiro M.D., F.A.C.S
1762 Hawthorne Street, Suite 4
Sarasota, FL 34239
Tel: 941-364-VEIN (8346)
Fax: 941-955-2916
EMail: info@veincenterofsarasota.com
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Serving Sarasota, Venice, Bradenton, Northport and Lakewood Ranch
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