Varicose veins are a problem not only for the elderly, but also for the very young. How often does it happen that a young woman after childbirth acquires bulging knobby veins on her legs, pain and other problems with varicose veins.
Signs of varicose veins in the legs
The first signs of varicose veins of the legs are considered the appearance of small vessels on the surface of the skin. They appear in small groups on the thighs. This is especially noticeable with cellulite. By the way, cellulite is directly related to varicose veins. The fatty tissue altered by cellulite makes it difficult for blood to drain from the lower limbs and increases the risk of developing varicose veins. Vessels that appear on the skin are called telangiectasias by doctors. These vascular networks are formed by small vessels, which can be a simple aesthetic defect, or they can serve as a sign of the appearance of varicose veins.
To find out if you are at risk of varicose veins, it is recommended to consult a doctor. The doctor will also advise which treatment method to use for the vascular networks. Another symptom of varicose veins is swelling in the legs. However, the legs can swell in other diseases (diseases of the kidneys, heart, etc. ), so these diseases must first be excluded. And finally, the most unpleasant and indicative symptom of varicose veins is pain in the legs. The pain usually appears in the afternoon, a field of intense physical exertion. The calf muscles hurt, the pain pulls and is not very strong.
So, if you have these symptoms: spider veins, swelling, leg pain, you should see a doctor.
Medical treatment of varicose veins of the legs
There are many drugs that are effective in the first stages of treating varicose veins in the legs. These are the so-called venotonic drugs. They give tangible results only in complex therapy. Thus, in order to improve the effect of venotonics, patients suffering from varicose veins must constantly wear compression stockings. These are special stockings, stockings and tights. They gently compress the diseased limb without compressing the vessels. Thus, the veins receive additional tone, and the disease develops more slowly.
However, special attention is paid to the fact that drug treatment cannot completely eliminate varicose veins. This is only a decrease in venous insufficiency, prevention of thrombophlebitis (which often complicates the life of people with advanced varicose veins of the legs).
The doctor may advise the patient to follow a course of lymphatic drainage. This is a special massage performed manually or by equipment. After lymphatic drainage, the swelling decreases, the outflow of blood and lymph from the lower extremities improves. However, the effect of this procedure is temporary, short-lived, so it is impossible to refuse to take venotonics and wear compression stockings.
Folk remedies in the treatment of varicose veins
In addition to medical treatment of varicose veins, you can try using folk remedies. Thus, a shower gives a good effect. Gradually, over several days, massage your legs with a jet of water from the shower. Every day, lowering the water temperature a little, you will gradually switch to cold water - and this will give the most significant result. If it is difficult to pour cold water on yourself, arrange a contrast shower: turn on hot, then cold water for a few seconds, and you need to complete the procedure with cold water. After such a shower, the legs should turn red. Rub them with a towel and grease with a nourishing cream.
Foot baths are helpful. Note that with varicose veins you cannot take hot baths.
So that your legs do not get tired during the day, make a bath according to this recipe in the morning. Birch, nettle and burdock leaves (each taken 1 tablespoon) are brewed with 1 liter of boiling water and infused for half an hour. Then the resulting broth should be diluted with warm water (in order to bring it to body temperature) and you can take a bath. Keep your feet in the decoction for at least 20 minutes.
Tonifies the vessels of the legs and a bath of lemon balm, oregano, chamomile and nettle. Take 2 cups of the mixture (mix all the herbs in equal parts) and infuse with a liter of boiling water. After the broth is infused, add 2 liters of water and keep your feet in a warm bath for 20 minutes.
Note that folk remedies cannot completely cure varicose veins, but will only stop their development.
What is sclerotherapy?
Sclerotherapy is one of the most effective non-surgical treatments for varicose veins. The essence of the method lies in the fact that the doctor injects a special drug into the vein changed by varicose veins. This drug causes the destruction of the inner layer of the vein, then the vein itself gradually sticks together and resolves over a period of 1. 5 years. Blood circulation begins to pass through healthy veins. The treatment requires 3 to 6 sclerotherapy sessions for each leg. After sclerotherapy sessions, you will see the result only after 2-8 weeks, and during all this time there may be unpleasant phenomena: hematomas, tingling, pain. But over time this will pass and the swollen veins will disappear. The doctor selects the drug individually for each patient, so the risk of side effects and complications is minimal. After high-quality sclerotherapy, varicose veins very rarely reappear.
If sclerotherapy is performed using an ultrasound machine, then it is called echosclerotherapy. This method is better because the scanner allows the doctor to fully control the movement of the syringe through the vein and monitor the even distribution of the drug.
Foam sclerotherapy is a method in which a drug in the form of microfoam is injected into the affected vein. The microfoam has a closer contact with the walls of the vein, which leads to greater efficiency of this method. The microfoam forces blood out of the vein - and so the vein sticks together and stops working faster. Also, the blood expelled from the vein does not dilute the drug, as in conventional sclerotherapy, so the drug works more effectively.
Operations for varicose veins
One of the most modern surgical methods for the treatment of varicose veins of the legs is an operation under tumescent anesthesia. It is a type of local anesthesia based on a mixture of natural anesthetics. This method has many advantages: the patient leaves the clinic within 2 hours after the operation, there are almost no postoperative hematomas, there is no intoxication that occurs with general anesthesia. The vein is removed radically, the effect persists for many years.
Operations under general anesthesia are no less effective, with the only difference that patients tolerate local anesthesia much more easily than general anesthesia.
Miniphlebectomy - this operation is performed under local anesthesia. The doctor makes punctures through which he removes varicose tributaries from the veins. This operation can serve as a substitute for sclerotherapy in some cases. Patients recover quickly, there are no scars, and compression stockings only need to be worn for 1-2 weeks.
Short stripping - this method involves the removal of not the entire vein, but only its affected area. The doctor determines the exact position of the diseased vein, its length, then two small incisions are made through which the varicose vein is removed. The operation turns out to be short, the soft tissues of the leg are not cut - this allows the patient to recover quickly and not feel pain after the operation.
The endoscopic vein dissection method is now widely used. Simply put, an incision is made over the affected vein, into which an endoscope is inserted. The doctor has the ability to see inside the affected vein. By moving the endoscope, the doctor discovers the length of the varicose vein, then cuts it. The advantages of this method are that the doctor sees everything he does, this allows him not to make mistakes and minimizes the trauma that the patient inevitably undergoes during the operation. This is a very promising method for the treatment of varicose veins, since the consequence of such an operation is a gradual decrease in venous insufficiency and an improvement in the condition of the veins.
Another minimally traumatic method for the treatment of varicose veins is intravascular laser coagulation. An ultrasound machine controls the introduction of a light guide into the vein. Then the light guide is moved to the point where the vein enters the deep venous system. A laser is turned on, under the action of which the blood plasma boils, and the diseased vein is tightly closed and stops working.
Most often, varicose veins suffer from generation to generation. Doctors do not know exactly why the disease occurs, but they believe that those whose grandmothers and mothers had varicose veins should take special care of their legs. As a preventive measure, it is recommended to run, swim, massage in the shower, try not to gain excessive weight, eat right and . . . to never lose heart!