Varicose veins are characterized by uneven dilation of the lumen of the veins of the legs, the appearance of nodes, and an increase in their length. The disease develops gradually and is characterized by a chronic course.
Women suffer from varicose veins three times more often than men. Among the stronger sex, people who love sports, with the greatest load distribution on their feet, are prone to this disease: football, tennis, basketball.
Why varicose veins occur
There are three types of veins in the foot tissue: superficial, deep, connecting the superficial and deep veins. Each vein is a hollow tube through which blood flows from the tissues of the legs to the heart. There are no muscle cells in the walls of the veins, so the vein cannot contract to push the blood up. This task is performed by the skeletal muscles of the legs. And the valves are located inside the veins - they close their valves when the skeletal muscles contract, preventing blood from flowing back. Each muscle contraction pushes the blood “higher”.
When the valve caps do not close tightly, some of the blood flows back, stagnates in the vein, presses against the wall, gradually stretching them. The lumen of the vein dilates, its wall elongates. This is the beginning of varicose veins.
Causes of the disease:
- Inheritance - with a congenital lack of collagen fibers, the vein wall is less flexible and prone to stretching.
- Stagnation of blood in the blood vessels of the legs, overweight and obese, wearing shoes with heels of more than 3-4 centimeters, standing for a long time in certain professions - hairdressers and salespeople, cooks, performers, or office workers.
- Changes in hormonal levels: Increased progesterone levels in a pregnant woman's blood make the walls soft and stretchable, increasing dramatically during pregnancy during varicose veins.
First Signs of Varicose Veins - How Not to Miss
The moment spider veins or spider veins appear on the skin of the legs - reticular varicose veins - can be seen as an alarming signal of the onset of varicose veins. This is not a cosmetic defect, but the beginning of a disease!
Simultaneously or after a while, a second group of signals connect - a feeling of leg heaviness, spreading in the legs after a long stand or sitting in a chair. When one begins to walk, the feeling of difficulty decreases: the skeletal muscles push the standing blood higher and the elongation of the vein walls decreases.
Further development of the disease is indicated by the edema of the legs - these are traces of socks, a thickening of one leg relative to the other on visual inspection.
Later, muscle pain in the feet, rapid fatigue while walking, is associated with dry skin on the feet and its pigmentation, protrusion of varicose veins and the development of trophic ulcers.
When to see a vascular surgeon?
When the first spider veins and stars appear, consult a specialist and, if necessary, perform an ultrasound examination of the veins of the lower extremities and perform varicose vein surgery. The earlier a diagnosis of varicose veins is diagnosed, the more likely it is to stop it at an early stage.