Varicose Veins: Causes, Prevention, and the Latest in Non-Surgical Treatments

Varicose Veins: Causes, Prevention, and the Latest in Non-Surgical Treatments

Varicose veins are a medical condition wherein veins, usually in the legs, swell, twist, and become visible through the skin. They are usually red or bluish-purple in colour, appear swollen and raised, and can be painful. It is a very common disorder, especially in women. Varicose veins affect around 25% of adults. While being unsettling and painful, these are generally not serious or deadly to most people. Severe varicose veins can sometimes result in major health complications, such as blood clots.

Causes & Risk Factors

Varicose veins develop when the valves in the veins regulating blood flow become weakened or damaged. These valves are strictly responsible for ensuring that blood flows toward the heart, but when they fail to function properly, blood can pool in the veins, further causing them to enlarge and become varicose.

Varicose veins can occur due to a number of factors:

• Genetics: Your risk is higher if you have a family history of varicose veins. You will be more likely to have them if your parents or grandparents have them.
• Age: Varicose veins can appear with advancing age. This is because the elasticity of your veins can weaken with age, and their internal valves may become faulty. Most of the patients, therefore, are older.
• Gender: Varicose veins usually affect women more often than they do males. Hormones tend to relax vein walls; therefore, changes in hormones during pregnancy, pre-menstruation, or menopause may have a role. Hormone therapies, including birth control pills, can potentially raise the chance.
• Pregnancy: Women’s blood volume increases during pregnancy to feed the growing foetus. All this increase in blood volume can increase the vein volume. The weight of the growing uterus creates extra pressure on these veins.
• Obesity:Being overweight can also cause varicose veins due to the added pressure on your veins.
• Prolonged Standing or Sitting: If you tend to sit or stand for long periods, there may be blood pooling. Having a job that places you on your feet for much of the time, such as farming, teaching, or nursing, also increases the risk.
• Lifestyle Factors: Varicose veins can also be a result of several factors that affect either the veins themselves or the flow of blood. These factors can include smoking, poor nutrition, and lack of exercise.
• General Health: : Some medical diseases, such as severe constipation or some types of tumours, can result in increased vein pressure.

Effective Prevention of Varicose Veins

There are some risk factors that are beyond your influence such as age or genetics, but there are some things you can do to try to avoid or prevent varicose veins from worsening.

• Exercise Regularly: Physical activity enhances blood circulation in your legs and further helps in the push of that blood that has pooled in the veins. Walking is an excellent exercise for people who have vein problems.
• Maintain a Healthy Weight: It helps relieve some unnecessary pressure on the veins if you keep your weight within the limits.
• Watch Your Diet: Including a high-fibre, low-sodium diet in your lifestyle will help reduce pressure on your veins and prevent swelling. To avoid water retention, avoid salty meals.
• Elevate Your Legs: Elevate your legs at night during sleep. This is important as it improves blood return to the heart. Try to have your legs above your heart level for some minutes during the day.
• Avoid Prolonged Standing or Sitting: If you need to stand or sit for long periods for your job, take regular breaks to get up and walk around and change positions to improve blood flow.
• Wear Compression Stockings: These special socks press on the legs and make the blood flow upward to the heart more rapidly, preventing blood from collecting there and thus reducing swelling.
• Avoid Tight Clothing: Clothes that are tight around your waist, legs, or groyne can restrict the usual blood flow and increase your risk of developing varicose veins. Hence, avoid the use of tight clothes.
• Give Up using Tobacco Products: Smoking causes a number of health issues, including blood vessel damage and decreased blood flow.

Treatment & Management of Varicose Veins

When it comes to treating varicose veins, doctors are typically cautious. First and foremost, you’ll probably be advised to change a few things about your way of living before trying more serious treatments. There are plenty of modern non-surgical treatments available for those who already have varicose veins but want to avoid surgery. Interventional radiology, a field that uses imaging techniques to guide minimally invasive procedures, offers innovative options:

• Sclerotherapy: Spider veins and varicose veins are commonly treated using this popular and efficient method. The damaged veins are filled with an injection of a solution that makes them scar and shut. The treated veins eventually disappear. Sclerotherapy not only has a short recovery and rest period, but it also just takes a few minutes to an hour, depending on your condition. It may also be used to treat mild to moderate varicose veins and to make spider veins on the calves, thighs, and feet seem better.
• Endovenous Laser Treatment (EVLT): Endovenous laser therapy is a process that treats larger varicose veins in the legs. A small tube, a catheter, is inserted into the vein to deliver the laser fibre. A doctor will view the vein on a duplex ultrasound screen while conducting this procedure. When compared to vein ligation and stripping, laser is less painful and has a more rapid recovery time. The only medications one needs to take for laser therapy are local anaesthetic and mild sedation.
• Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA): This is accomplished with a simple needle puncture. A thin catheter is inserted into the problematic vein through a tiny, scar-free puncture site. The catheter is placed, under ultrasound guidance, into the small saphenous vein in the calf or the large saphenous vein in the thigh. The radiofrequency radiation heats the vein from inside and closes it. Moreover, this surgery is done under local anaesthesia and involves minimal recovery time.
• Ultrasound-Guided Foam Sclerotherapy: This is a method whereby, under ultrasound imaging guidance, a foam solution is injected into the veins. Foam makes the veins collapse, and the body eventually absorbs them. Larger veins are ideally suited for this technique.
• VenaSeal: This is a more recent procedure that seals varicose veins using a medical glue. Using a catheter, a little quantity of glue is inserted into the vein to seal it shut. Blood is automatically redirected by the body to healthier veins. VenaSeal has a quick healing period and is efficient.
• Microphlebectomy: Varicose veins are removed using the Microphlebectomy technique by making tiny incisions. Because the incisions are so small, stitches are typically not used during the procedure, which is done under local anaesthetic. This technique has a short recovery period and works well for superficial varicose veins.

Why Choose Apollo Hospitals for Varicose Veins Treatment?

Thus, varicose veins are among the most common conditions, frequently associated with painful and aesthetic complications. Prevention is mostly ensured by regular exercise, normal body mass index, and avoidance of long-standing and long-sitting. Today, with the latest research into non-surgical interventions through interventional radiology, patients suffering from varicose veins can avail themselves of less invasive yet very effective options.

Consult with a doctor about the best course of action if you are developing some varicose veins. We provide cutting-edge, minimally invasive varicose vein treatments at Apollo Hospitals, Karnataka. With our dedicated staff and individual care, you may get your varicose veins properly managed and cured to improve your quality of life and general health.