Understanding Vein Disease
Vein disease is caused by problems with the one-way valves that prevent the backflow of blood after the skeletal muscles push the blood toward the heart. Once the one-way valves fall incompetent, there is no way for them to repair themselves. A number of different things can cause vein disease:
- Missing or malformed from genetics
- Trauma or injury
- Softening of the vein walls and over distention from estrogen and progesterone during pregnancy
- Standing or sitting for long periods without contracting the muscles
- Downstream obstructions such as clots or tight clothes
- Overtime they wear out as part of the aging process
Occasionally after pregnancy the one-way valves can become competent again and varicose veins will then go away. It is reasonable to wait six to twelve months after a pregnancy before having varicose veins treated.
Recent studies have also shown that many varicose veins will go away once the larger veins have been treated. It is reasonable to wait six to twelve months after treating the downstream veins to see how many varicose veins will go away.
Keep in mind vein disease is a very progressive disease. As the blood collects over the course of the day, the feet, ankles and legs swell from the increased fluid. The legs will feel heavy as a result of the increased fluid and the legs begin to ache and throb when the veins are stretched too much. Once the vein walls are stretched past their elastic point, they are unable to return to normal size. These distended veins are the tortuous, protruding vessels known as varicose veins. Varicose veins indicate that incompetent valves are present in the larger veins. Backflow in the larger veins is called venous insufficiency.
Clots can form in the varicose veins because the blood does not flow through the dilated areas. As the clots break down, they release toxins that cause redness, heat, and pain. The inflammatory reaction leads to damage of more one-way valves and progression of the disease. Distended varicose vein walls tear leaking blood into the surrounding tissues causing the skin to become hard like an elephant’s skin and the brown colored skin to form. These problems start to develop on the inside of the lower legs above the ankles and progress up the leg if the diseased larger veins are not treated.
Ultimately, skin starts to scale, weeps, break down, and form ulcers that are very difficult to get to heal. The ulcers can bleed and can become infected. Healed ulcers reform very easily. In order to prevent the permanent damage to the tissues, vein disease needs to be treated with surgery when it is first identified. No one wants to have to deal ongoing and recurrent ulcers, bleeding, and infections that result when superficial venous insufficiency is not treated in its early stages.
