To understand how varicose veins result from venous insufficiency it is helpful to understand how veins function. Veins exist to direct blood back to the heart. However, unlike arteries‚ veins alone cannot contract with enough force to direct blood back to the heart. They rely on the muscles in the foot‚ thigh and—most predominately—the calf to do the pumping. Veins have elastic walls to aid with pumping and one-way valves to keep blood flowing in one direction. When the vein walls lose elasticity, these valves may fail and allow blood to leak backwards‚ making the veins incompetent. This is called venous insufficiency and it’s one of the most common vascular diseases. Approximately 15–20% of the population is affected—more women than men.
To understand how varicose veins result from venous insufficiency it is helpful to understand how veins function. Veins exist to direct blood back to the heart.
However, unlike arteries‚ veins alone cannot contract with enough force to direct blood back to the heart. They rely on the muscles in the foot‚ thigh and - most predominately - the calf to do the pumping. Veins have elastic walls to aid with pumping and one-way valves to keep blood flowing in one direction. When the vein walls lose elasticity, these valves may fail and allow blood to leak backwards‚ making the veins incompetent. This is called venous insufficiency and it’s one of the most common vascular diseases. Approximately 15–20% of the population is affected - more women than men.
We all have three sets of veins in our legs: a deep set (which is contained in muscle) a superficial set (which is outside the muscle) and perforators (which travel between the deep and superficial set.) The deep set is critical because it is directly acted upon by the muscles to push blood back to the heart. The superficial set is not critical because their job is simply to get blood down to the deep system. There are thousands of veins and they are all interconnected, so eliminating a section of superficial vein with one of our treatment methods is not harmful to overall circulation. In fact‚ eliminating poorly functioning vein will improve the circulation by preventing the backflow of blood.
At any given time about a third of the blood in our bodies is located in our legs. As noted earlier, this blood must be pumped by the leg muscles‚ often against gravity‚ back to the heart. When the calf muscles squeeze, they force about 60% of the blood in the legs back to the heart. In a patient with venous insufficiency some of the blood that would normally head toward the heart leaks back toward the feet. This means only 53–55% is getting back to the heart and some blood is left behind. Over time this blood puts added pressure on the little superficial veins and skin leading to dilated, tortuous, twisted veins called varicose veins. Close
We all have three sets of veins in our legs: a deep set (which is contained in muscle) a superficial set (which is outside the muscle) and perforators (which travel between the deep and superficial set.) The deep set is critical because it is directly acted upon by the muscles to push blood back to the heart. The superficial set is not critical because their job is simply to get blood down to the deep system. There are thousands of veins and they are all interconnected, so eliminating a section of superficial vein with one of our treatment methods is not harmful to overall circulation. In fact‚ eliminating poorly functioning vein will improve the circulation by more
Symptoms...
Varicose Veins
before treatment
Often varicose veins have no symptoms other than a bulging, twisted vein beneath the skin surface. However, in many cases other symptoms are present, including aching in the affected area, swelling of the feet and ankles, a feeling of heaviness, tiredness and aching at the end of the day or after standing, itching skin or changes in the skin color at the affected area—especially around the ankles.
Treatment...
After treatment
at SI Vein
At the Southern Illinois Vein Center we use the most advanced and effective treatment methods. Common treatment for varicose veins is a combination of endovenous laser ablation and ultrasound guided sclerotherapy — most often done in several sessions. Wearing a graduated compression hose is an important component in the success of the overall treatment for vein disease, including varicose veins. For optimum results‚ they should be worn for the prescribed amount of time.
It is important to understand that your treatment will occur over the course of several months. Even when treatment is complete‚ we will see you every three months until we are sure the treated veins will not grow back. Veins can be very resilient, so we need to ensure we have eradicated them.
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