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Varicose veins

Studies show that 50 to 55% of American women and 40 to 45% of American men suffer from some vein problem. More specifically, varicose veins affect 1 out of 2 people age 50 and older. This disorder is the result of insufficiency of the valves in the communicating veins, those that link the superficial and deep veins of the lower limb. Normally, blood flows from the superficial to the deep veins, however, when the valve becomes defective, blood is forced into the superficial veins by the action of the muscle pump. As we all know, the heart pumps blood filled with oxygen and nutrients to the whole body and the arteries carry the blood towards the body parts. It is the veins that carry oxygen-poor blood from the body back to the heart. These veins have valves that act as one-way flaps which prevent the blood from flowing backwards as it moves up the legs. However, when the one-way valves become weak, blood can leak back into the vein and collect there, leading to venous insufficiency. The pooled blood enlarges the vein which becomes varicose or spider veins.

Varicose veins and spider veins appear in particularly in the legs because of the following:

• the force of gravity
• the pressure of body weight
• the task of carrying blood from the bottom of the body up to the heart

All of these factors make legs the primary location for varicose and spider veins, as compared with other veins in the body. It can be said that leg veins have the toughest job of carrying blood back to the heart because they endure the most pressure, especially in the veins' one-way valves.

There are also many factors which increase a person's chances of developing varicose or spider veins. These include increasing age and having family members with vein problems or being born with weak vein valves. Along with the list also include hormonal changes which occur during puberty, pregnancy, and menopause. Also, taking birth control pills and other medicines containing estrogen and progesterone increase the risk. When you’re also in pregnancy there is a huge increase in the amount of blood in the body so that this can cause veins to enlarge. Add up to that, the expanding uterus also puts pressure on the veins. However, varicose veins usually improve within 3 months after delivery though a growing number of abnormal veins usually appear with each additional pregnancy. Like pregnancy, obesity, leg injury, prolonged standing and other things can also weaken vein valves. Lastly, sun exposure can cause spider veins on the cheeks or nose of a fair-skinned person to appear.

Varicose or spider veins are not only unsightly, they are also inconvenient because you will feel aching, heavy legs with especially worse at night. You’ll also feel ankle swelling and a brownish-blue shiny skin discoloration around the veins with skin over the vein becoming dry, itchy and thin, leading to eczema (venous eczema). Also, the skin may darken, a thing called stasis dermatitis, because of the waste products building up in the legs. There is also the danger of minor injuries to the area because it may bleed more than normal and/or take a long time to heal although there is rarely a large amount of bleeding from a ruptured vein. Unfortunately, in some people the skin above the ankle may shrink, this is called lipodermatosclerosis, because the fat underneath the skin becomes hard.

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