No one likes those painful reddish blue veins that bulge on your legs, but do you know why you are getting them?
Varicose veins are caused by malfunctioning valves in our veins.
It all starts with how our veins blood circulates.
Our bodies are super smart. Our arteries circulate blood full of oxygen to every part of our body and then our veins then take the deoxygenated blood back to the heart and lungs. This blood is then recirculated through our body after it is reoxygenated. And the process continues.
For many areas of our body, returning blood to our heart for re-circulation is quite simple. However, for our legs, the process is complicated by gravity.
This is why the veins in our legs are especially assisted but vein valves. Tiny valves act like laneways to keep blood flowing in the right direction upwards towards the heart. As the legs pump muscles blood upwards, these valves close to stop blood from flowing backwards. Pretty smart hey?
However, just like everything in life, these valves sometimes don’t work. This can be for many reasons.
And when the vein valves fail, and because veins in our legs are working against gravity, the blood pools and causes the vein to stretch, leak, and eventually protrude.
The result is varicose veins, which appear as bulging lines of twisted cords under the skin that might be red, blue or skin colour.
Varicose veins are painful, enlarged, swollen blood vessels, and they mostly occur on the back of our thighs and calves. They cause uncomfortable symptoms such as:
- heaviness in the legs
- throbbing or burning pain
- cramping and aching in the legs, especially when standing or sitting for a long time
- swelling
- restless legs
There have been many studies on varicose veins, and doctors now know that while genetics is one cause of varicose veins, other actions can contribute to varicose veins:
- Crossing your legs over the course of many years. This position puts pressure on the valves.
- Standing for long periods of time
- Getting older. As we age, our leg veins lose elasticity and stretch. This weakens the vein valves and prevents them performing their important role of blocking backward blood flow. Further our legs are less able to perform the necessary muscle contractions to pump blood
- Weight gain. Whether due to changed diet or health or due to pregnancy, additional body weight puts added pressure on the legs can contribute to varicose veins
- Not exercising. When we exercise we encouraging the leg muscles to contract, pumping the blood in our legs and assisting the leg veins at their job.
Now what…?
If you suffer from varicose veins, we can help. With many years experience in removing painful leg veins using sclerotherapy, globally acknowledged as the most effective way to treat varicose veins.
Sclerotherapy is a non-surgical treatment that can safely get rid of varicose veins with minimal pain and downtime and improve the appearance of your legs.
Book your consultation with now, so he can examine your varicose veins and offer an appropriate treatment plan.