Varicose veins are one of the most common vascular pathologies.
Varicose veins still bothered our ancestors, but then doctors tried unsuccessfully to overcome the disease. Nowadays, chronic venous insufficiency continues to disfigure beautiful female and male legs, but modern medicine offers a whole range of methods on how to get rid of varicose veins on the legs.
According to some reports, more than 10% of the population suffers from the disease in one form or another, women are more susceptible to it.
Varicose veins can appear at any age, even in childhood. The determining factor for the development of the disease is hereditary predisposition.
The causes of varicose veins
The main cause of varicose veins is a genetic defect in the connective tissue, including the one that makes up the vessels. Hereditary predisposition means that if first-degree relatives suffer from some form of varicose veins, then the person is at risk of this disease.
The development of varicose veins also requires special conditions created by the patient's lifestyle. These factors cause the normal stagnation of blood in the lower body by creating a static load.
Varicose veins of the legs often occur in people whose work is associated with prolonged standing: hairdressers, salespeople, operating surgeons.
Varicose veins of the pelvis can be caused by pregnancy, as an enlarged uterus can cause prolonged compression of the pelvic floor veins. Also, varicose veins of the pelvis occur in people leading a sedentary lifestyle.
Factors that interfere with blood circulation and cause varicose veins in the legs include wearing tight clothing and shoes, the habit of sitting cross-legged. The reason for the development of varicose veins of the pelvis can be practiced incomplete sexual intercourse as a method of contraception.
Symptoms of varicose veins
The symptoms of varicose veins of the legs are as follows:
- Feeling very tired, feeling heavy and full in the legs, worsening in the evening;
- Leg pain that has no clear localization, pain and pulling by nature, the pain syndrome also increases in the afternoon;
- The appearance of external symptoms of varicose veins of the legs. Telangiectasia or spider veins are an intertwining of thin vessels of purple or cyanotic color. As the disease progresses, large veins begin to appear in the form of curved swollen subcutaneous ligaments, the so-called worm-like veins;
- At an advanced stage join the signs of complications of varicose veins of the legs: thrombophlebitis, trophic ulcers, thrombosis. These are serious complications that cause a significant deterioration in the patient's quality of life (trophic ulcer) and in some cases even death (pulmonary embolism due to venous thrombosis of the lower extremities).
The symptoms of varicose veins in women are non-specific and resemble the symptoms of inflammatory disease of the female genital tract, which is why diagnostic errors are often made.
The main symptoms of varicose veins of the pelvis are:
- Periodic painful pain in the pelvic area. The dependence of the pain syndrome on the phase of the menstrual cycle is monitored, shortly before the onset of menstruation, the pain, as a rule, intensifies;
- Abundant mucous discharge from the vagina.
A special case of manifestation of varicose veins of the pelvis are hemorrhoids with all its inherent symptoms.
The symptoms of varicose veins of the testicles in men are often not noticed at all and are discovered accidentally during a medical examination. As a rule, this is a characteristic worm pattern of an dilated venous plexus on one side of the scrotum, pulling unilateral pain in this area, which occurs after exercise.
Diagnosis of varicose veins
The diagnosis is based on the symptoms of varicose veins, the data from the external examination, as well as the results of the hardware methods of examination. In this capacity, Doppler ultrasound and duplex ultrasound angioscanning are the most informative.
If it is difficult to diagnose varicose veins in women, transuterine phlebography may be used.
Special functional tests (such as the Valsava test) are used to confirm the diagnosis of varicose veins of the testicles.
Treatment of varicose veins
The treatment of varicose veins depends on the location of the pathology and can be conservative or surgical. The most commonly used combination of several of them.
Drug and compression therapy are used as a conservative treatment for varicose veins of the legs. The use of drugs does not matter on its own, but it helps to relieve the symptoms of varicose veins of the legs: eliminate the feeling of heaviness, fatigue and pain.
Compression therapy consists of wearing medical compression stockings, which have a compressive and massaging effect on the superficial veins, helping to eliminate venous congestion. Compression therapy is highly effective and can be considered as a stand-alone method for the treatment of varicose veins in the legs at an early stage of development or in the postoperative period. Currently, medical compression stockings are made of high-tech materials and do not create problems with prolonged wear, including aesthetic.
The most radical treatment for all types of varicose veins is surgery. Phlebologists now prefer minimally invasive techniques: sclerosis of varicose veins, laser surgery, endoscopic phlebectomy, microsurgical phlebectomy of the veins. These techniques allow you to achieve excellent results with minimal risk of surgical and postoperative complications.
The classic surgical treatment of varicose veins is also used, in which the damaged part of the vein is bandaged and excised. In this case, the blood flow is bypassed.
It should be understood that modern treatment of varicose veins, with all its achievements, does not eliminate the main cause of the disease - the weakness of the vascular wall. Therefore, the treatment required requires lifelong prevention of recurrence of the disease and, if possible, complete elimination of factors contributing to the development of varicose veins. Only this approach will allow to talk about a complete cure of the disease.
The use of folk remedies for the treatment of varicose veins
Folk remedies for the treatment of varicose veins are used quite widely and actively, but their effectiveness is usually negligible. The use of folk remedies for the treatment of varicose veins is justified as a symptomatic therapy to reduce the discomfort caused by the disease and its complications. As a rule, decoctions and ointments based on medicinal plants are used for this purpose, which have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial action.