Varicose veins: symptoms and treatment

Varicose veins are called expansion of the veins, accompanied by changes in the tissues of blood vessels (thinning, brittleness, the formation of nodules). In the absence of adequate treatment, the disease progresses, which is manifested in the formation of a capillary network, the walls of the venous vessels thicken and stretch. The next stage in the development of pathology is the deterioration of the venous valves and a violation of the blood supply to tissues and organs.

Types of varicose veins

According to statistics, every fourth person on Earth suffers from varicose veins to one degree or another. The disease is classified according to several signs:

• According to the localization of the disease - varicose veins of the upper extremities, lower extremities, reticular, genitals, pelvis.
• According to the depth of the course - intradermal, large and small veins, subcutaneous.
• International classification according to classes, where class 0 - the disease does not have clinical symptoms, but the patient complains of leg pain. The last, grade 6, describes the most difficult stage of pathology (the constant discovery of new non-healing scars and ulcers, progressing in size).

Pathology development

The stages of the disease have the following classification:

• Compensatory. The patient complains of pulling pains in the lower extremities, feels discomfort, unprovoked leg fatigue. Upon examination, the doctor may notice spider veins, swollen veins on one or both legs.
• Subcompensatory. The patient has night cramps, a feeling of pressure inside the vessels, a feeling of numbness of the calf muscles, periodic swelling of the ankles, feet or legs.
• Decompensatory. Already existing complaints and symptoms are joined by changes in skin color (local pigmentation), ulcerative lesions of varying degrees, pronounced bulge of the veins in the form of cones, burning, acute pain in the extremities.

Reasons for the appearance

At the heart of the onset and development of the disease lies a whole range of causes. Sometimes lifestyle changes are enough to provoke the disease, but there are also congenital pathologies. Experts believe that the following factors are prerequisites:

• Heredity. At risk are people whose blood relatives were sick with varicose veins, pathology in posterity is manifested in 70% of cases.
• Occupational activity in some cases causes varicose veins. Symptoms are most often observed in patients whose work obliges them to sit or stand for a long time (drivers, teachers, office workers, hairdressers).
• Excessive exercise. The risk category includes professional athletes, dancers and people whose working specialty requires frequent weight lifting or is associated with heavy physical labor.
• Disruption of the cardiovascular system, in particular vascular valves. Valves are small “valves” located on the walls of blood vessels, they allow blood to rise up the vein and prevent its return, closing after each serving of blood. With insufficient closure of the valves, the blood penetrates back and stagnation occurs, which entails the expansion of the vein, the weakening of its walls.
• Walking in uncomfortable shoes (high heels, complete lack of heels), tight clothing (pulling body parts, tightening corsets or underwear), overweight.
• Vascular diseases (thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, phlebitis, atherosclerosis), inflammation of the veins, damage to the walls of the veins, etc.

Complications

A number of diseases are characterized by a chronic course, including varicose veins. Symptoms identified at an early stage, the disease will help the patient not start the disease.

Lack of therapy and advanced cases can provoke a number of concomitant diseases. We list the main ones:

• eczema;
• bleeding of nodes of varicose veins;
• thrombophlebitis;
• difficult stopping venous bleeding;
• phlebothrombosis;
• ulcers on the skin in places of dislocation of the cones of veins;
• trophic ulcers.

Symptoms of leg varicose veins

This is one of the most common diseases in the world. Symptoms of varicose veins on the legs appear much earlier than the clinical signs of pathology. In medicine, the main observations of the course of the disease began with the detection of vasodilation on the legs, where the disease shows all the symptoms clearly.

Signs of varicose veins include:

• a feeling of heaviness in the legs, not due to physical activity;
• the appearance of the vascular network, asterisks;
• nocturnal, and later daytime, spasms of the calf muscles;
• visual determination of enlarged veins under the skin;
• edema that does not pass at rest;
• pigmentation of skin areas where enlarged veins are located;
• periodic spontaneous hemorrhages;
• dermatitis;
• periodic appearance of ulcers and their tightening;
• trophic non-healing ulcers.

The appearance of the first sign may indicate the onset of varicose veins on the legs. Symptoms develop progressively, and a further lack of therapy will bring a significant deterioration in health status, and sometimes lead to disability.

Doctors from all types of vein pathology most often diagnose varicose veins of the lower extremities. Symptoms, treatment, as well as diagnosis and research of the disease have gone a long historical path of discovery. Today, pathology is treated with modern methods, which include drug therapy, physiotherapy, exercise therapy, surgical interventions, etc.

Pelvic varicose veins

Women are much more likely to experience vein disease. The least studied type of pathology is pelvic varicose veins.

Symptoms and signs:

• Pain in the lower abdomen during physical or emotional stress.
• Pain during, or immediately after intercourse.
• The current diagnosis is infertility, dysmenorrhea.
• Disorders of the bladder, urination.

The obstetrician-gynecologist, phlebologist, and vascular surgeon are involved in the diagnosis of the disease . At the first stage, a visual examination and palpation of the thighs, buttocks, and perineum is performed. If veins are visible during examination, and when pressed, their increase is felt, the presence of cones is felt, the patient feels pain, then we can say that this is varicose veins. Symptoms in women, as well as in men, require confirmation or refutation by diagnostic methods and laboratory tests.

Diagnostic Methods:

1. Laparoscopy.
2. Ultrasound
3. Dopplerography.
4. Ovaricography.

With varicose veins in the pelvic area, treatment is required to begin immediately. The wire is fraught with stagnation of blood, the development of pathologies of neighboring organs. Measures of therapy are medications designed to restore the elasticity of the walls of blood vessels, increase the lumen of the vein. In advanced cases, surgical removal of the damaged vein or its blockage is permissible. Blood begins to move through neighboring veins.

Inguinal varicose veins

Symptoms of this type of pathology are observed in men over the age of 50 years, however, the disease is increasingly common in younger people. In men of reproductive age, extension of the spermatic cord causes infertility.

Symptoms of pathology are:

• Pain in the groin during exercise.
• Drawing pains in scrotum.
• Detection of veins during visual inspection.

The cause of the disease may be:

• Heredity, congenital pathology.
• Heavy physical activity (work, intense training, professional sports).
• Hernia in the groin area.
• Neoplasm in the abdominal cavity.
• Constipation.

Therapy is prescribed depending on the stage of the disease and includes medication with coagulants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or surgery.

Other varicose veins

Of all types of disease, varicose veins of the lower extremities are relatively quickly diagnosed. Symptoms of the same pathology in other organs are characterized by pulling pains and require careful diagnosis:

• Varicose veins of the upper extremities are rare. The risk group includes patients with diagnosed Parks-Weber disease, patients with subclavian or axillary vein thrombosis. It can also occur in people whose work is associated with heavy physical exertion.
• Uterine varicose veins are a difficult to determine disease, because the symptoms are similar to gynecological pathologies - pulling pains in the lower abdomen, lower back, impaired uterine function, appendages, etc. Pregnancy, severe physical exertion, heredity, and some diseases can serve as the cause of the expansion of the veins. Treatment consists of taking medications, physiotherapy, a healthy lifestyle, and in extreme cases, surgery is indicated.
• Varicose veins of the esophagus and stomach. The disease is provoked by changes in the portal vein, abnormal development of the vascular network. If untreated, bleeding occurs, burning in the chest area, vein rupture may occur. Diagnosis is carried out by methods of fluoroscopy, gastroscopy.
• Lip varicose veins - a cosmetic defect that does not pose a threat to health. It occurs due to bruising, soft tissue injury. It manifests itself in the form of a vascular network, is removed through plastic surgery.

Drug treatment

Treatment should be started as soon as varicose veins have been detected. Symptoms confirmed by professional diagnostics, determining the stage of the disease, will help a specialist prescribe a course of therapy. If the pathology is at the very beginning of its development, then there are enough medications designed to relieve pain, increase the elasticity of blood vessels, thin the blood in order to prevent the appearance of blood clots.

The arsenal of treatment methods includes topical preparations, for example, Troxevasin, Detralex, Venolek, and other ointments. Patients are shown wearing compression underwear and taking medications on a regular basis. No less important in therapy is a change in lifestyle, nutrition, and rejection of bad habits. Experts strongly recommend not to self-medicate, but to contact the clinic for a diagnosis.

Procedural treatment

Many are afraid of varicose veins. Symptoms significantly complicate life, and without proper treatment, the disease leads to disability. Seeking treatment on time is to avoid additional burden on the body through the use of gentle treatment methods.

The following treatment methods are included in the arsenal of medicine:

• One of the effective ways to combat the disease is hirudotherapy. A leech bite injects a hirudin substance into the human blood, which reduces blood viscosity without the use of artificially synthesized drugs. Hirudotherapy is the prevention of thrombosis.
• Endovasal laser coagulation. It is carried out under local anesthesia and at the initial stage destroys spider veins.
• Ozone therapy works well on varicose veins. Symptoms and treatment of the initial stages of the disease are determined mainly by cosmetic defects - the vascular network or asterisks on the body. To eliminate the phenomenon, ozone is glued into the lumen of the vessel, gluing the walls, blood supply is redirected to healthy veins and blood vessels. Sometimes several sessions are required.
• Sclerotherapy is used with a small severity of venous nodes that show symptoms of varicose veins. The photo of the procedure demonstrates the introduction into the affected vein of certain medications that glue the walls of blood vessels. Blood moves through healthy vessels.
• Phlebectomy is a surgical operation in which the affected veins are removed. Intervention is carried out inpatiently, the next day the patient can go home. Within a month after the operation, the patient is prescribed to wear special tights or bandage the limb with an elastic bandage.

Movement is life and health

Dosed physical activity has a beneficial effect on varicose veins. Thanks to special sets of exercises, it is possible to avoid stagnation of blood in the veins, increase vascular tone, improve blood circulation and lymphatic drainage.

Even in severe cases, do not give up physical activity. The doctor can give recommendations or referrals to physical therapy exercises, where they will select an individual training program (for example, Mikulin gymnastics) taking into account the current state of health. Exercise makes a huge contribution to the rehabilitation of the patient.

Recommended Sports:

• Water aerobics, swimming.
• Sports and Nordic walking.
• Bicycle rides.
• Golf.
• A set of yoga therapy exercises.

Prevention

Varicose veins can overtake any person, in urban conditions this contributes to physical inactivity, and in rural areas - hard physical labor. Preventive measures help to avoid the disease.

• For people of standing and sedentary professions - periodic performance of light physical exercises. Wearing compression underwear is also recommended.
• Wear shoes with medium heels (up to 4 cm), avoid high heels or reduce the amount of time spent in uncomfortable shoes to a minimum.
• Avoid high temperatures when taking a bath or in a sauna.
• Walk, run, swim, ride a bicycle as much as possible.
• Stop smoking and alcohol.
• Get rid of the habit of throwing one leg on the other while sitting.
• Track your hormonal background and, if possible, regulate it.
• More often walking without shoes - barefoot on the ground, grass.

By following a healthy lifestyle, a disease such as varicose veins can be avoided. Symptoms and treatment, photos of the procedures and their effectiveness, as well as modern methods of prevention could be seen in this article. In case of concern, you should seek the advice of a therapist, phlebologist, and vascular surgeon.