You will find very few illness processes which are as widespread or as common as varicose veins, which are reported to affect up to 1 in 4 adults at some stage in their lives. Even though some people do seek remedies simply simply because from the unsightly cosmetic appearance of the veins; varicose undesireable veins can cause a multitude of symptoms, discomfort and difficulties if not treated effectively.
There are lots of typical myths "old wives tales" concerning varicoses, such as:
"The prevalence of varicose veins is greater in women than it's in men"
This myth is mainly the result of poor study methodology, where doctors have simply counted the number of people who arrive and see them, without searching at sufferers who've not attended for consultation. This meant that when study into the prevalence of varicose veins was carries out in 1990 ladies had been perceived to suffer more often than men, as there's a tendency for women to become more health conscious in general and more willing to see their GP.
More recent research, done at the end of the 1990's in Edinburgh, when people were stopped on the streets and also the quantity of people with signs and symptoms were counted, showed that statistically there was no actual difference between the number of men and the number of women suffering the comlaint.
"Pregnancy causes varicose veins"
This myth suggests that numerous ladies don't suffer symptoms prior to their pregnancy, but the undesireable veins developed during or as a result of their pregnancy.
The statistical info showing an equal prevalence in between men and ladies suggests that this might be untrue, as if pregnancy did cause varicoses, then males should not have the same prevalence towards the situation as ladies.
Additionally, if would make sense that, if pregnancy did cause varicoses, more women would be observed for varicose undesireable veins throughout their child bearing years, but this isn't the situation.
Study performed in Chester in the late 1990's using duplex ultrasound shows that only women who've lost their valve function prior to getting pregnant go on to obtain varicoses after pregnancy.
Ladies improve their blood volume by 40% throughout pregnancy, and this, along using the hormones throughout pregnancy that allow the tissues to stretch, means that varicoses that were not visible prior to pregnancy are now apparent.
The one exception to this rule is Pelvic Congestion Syndrome and ladies who go on to have a normal vaginal delivery of their baby. In this group of 2% of women during pregnancy the abnormal veins that are apparent as vulval, vaginal or leg undesireable veins are because of a problem higher up within the pelvis, namely the ovarian veins, pelvic veins or iliac undesireable veins as the trigger from the problem.
"Varicose veins are only cosmetic"
Visible varicose veins are normally blue or green, bulging through the skin from the leg.
As these are the undesireable veins which are seen people, such as doctors, assume that these are the difficulties. In fact, these aren't the issue but the outcome of an underlying source.
The underlying cause may be the leg muscle pump not working efficiently, and as this fails and gets worse so does the varicose veins. An easy analogy in understanding this really is to believe of the leg as a weed. If you just chop of f the top of the weed it will continue to keep coming back time following time. Varicose veins are the top of the weed. Should you just take them out they will arrive back again time and time again. To deal with a weed and also the varicose undesireable veins you have to treat the root from the issue, the underlying concern from the truncal veins.
"Varicose will re-occur so no point in treating the varicose veins"
Varicose undesireable veins have frequently been referred to as cosmetic difficulties and a minor issue and we now know in most case this is wrong.
You will find a couple of reasons why varicose undesireable veins can arrive back:
* Inadequate therapy methods
* Inadequate assessment
* Consultants with limited knowledge within the field
We know that the only accurate method to assess varicoses is by performing a comprehensive colour duplex ultrasound investigation to map the undesireable veins and their difficulties.
The old way of assessing varicoses was just by looking at the leg and guessing the undesireable veins that had been the problem. The inadequacies of this are apparent in that the wrong vein were often treated.
Now with colour Doppler ultrasound methods, we can not just accurately map the veins beforehand showing the exact problems but we can also use ultrasound throughout the procedures to ensure correct therapy.
The therapy that was the preferred method a few years ago was stripping from the underlying undesireable veins that had been causing the varicoses. We now know that there's a high chance of these veins growing back again. Veins are part from the connective tissue and, in a similar fashion towards the way a cut to the hand will heal, if you cut a vein the vein tries to heal.
Localised bleeding from the operation acts as a 'food' for the vein and so it re grows through the blood, known as revascularisation (re growth) or neovascularisation (new growth).
Varicoses had been quiet frequently treated by non-specialised consultants or junior staff as they had been perceived to become a minor problem and as such the situation was not given the respect it deserved.
With new techniques such as endovenous laser ablation and radiofrequency treatments, consultants becoming much more specialised in varicose undesireable veins treatments and also the advance of diagnostic imaging we are now seeing varicose undesireable veins don't come back if they are treated correctly.
"Standing for long periods causes varicose veins"
The trigger of varicoses and venous related conditions this kind of as thrombophlebitis (clotting of the blood within the superficial veins), venous eczema and venous ulcers is the failure of the leg pump, with the pump not being able to pump the blood back out of the leg.
The failure of the leg pump is predominantly down to the failure of the valves inside the veins. It has been shown that by the age of 9, 1 in 20 girls has already lost their valves and by 18, 1 in 9.
Just simply because the valves have stopped working though does not mean to say that varicose undesireable veins are instantly eminent, as damage is caused over time to the tissues. So individuals who stand for long periods are not more prone to varicose undesireable veins, but standing make the problem arrive to light sooner.
The only real commonly known truth is that varicose veins have a familial trait; that's to say that they tend to 'run within the family'. This doesn't mean to say everyone who has the issue running in their family will go on to develop signs and symptoms. Also some individuals don't have visible varicose undesireable veins but have the symptoms of muscle pump failure this kind of as:
* Leg swelling
* Leg Aching
* Itching legs
* Venous eczema
* Haemosidering (brown staining)
* Lipomatosclerosis (Hardening of the skin and tissue)
* Bleeding veins
* Leg Ulcers
Why we get varicose undesireable veins and who will develop them are questions that aren't yet fully answered or understood. We only understand the traits and also the tendencies, but with more study and improvements in methods and investigations hopefully we can not just understand varicose undesireable veins more clearly but also treat them within the best possible way.
There are lots of typical myths "old wives tales" concerning varicoses, such as:
"The prevalence of varicose veins is greater in women than it's in men"
This myth is mainly the result of poor study methodology, where doctors have simply counted the number of people who arrive and see them, without searching at sufferers who've not attended for consultation. This meant that when study into the prevalence of varicose veins was carries out in 1990 ladies had been perceived to suffer more often than men, as there's a tendency for women to become more health conscious in general and more willing to see their GP.
More recent research, done at the end of the 1990's in Edinburgh, when people were stopped on the streets and also the quantity of people with signs and symptoms were counted, showed that statistically there was no actual difference between the number of men and the number of women suffering the comlaint.
"Pregnancy causes varicose veins"
This myth suggests that numerous ladies don't suffer symptoms prior to their pregnancy, but the undesireable veins developed during or as a result of their pregnancy.
The statistical info showing an equal prevalence in between men and ladies suggests that this might be untrue, as if pregnancy did cause varicoses, then males should not have the same prevalence towards the situation as ladies.
Additionally, if would make sense that, if pregnancy did cause varicoses, more women would be observed for varicose undesireable veins throughout their child bearing years, but this isn't the situation.
Study performed in Chester in the late 1990's using duplex ultrasound shows that only women who've lost their valve function prior to getting pregnant go on to obtain varicoses after pregnancy.
Ladies improve their blood volume by 40% throughout pregnancy, and this, along using the hormones throughout pregnancy that allow the tissues to stretch, means that varicoses that were not visible prior to pregnancy are now apparent.
The one exception to this rule is Pelvic Congestion Syndrome and ladies who go on to have a normal vaginal delivery of their baby. In this group of 2% of women during pregnancy the abnormal veins that are apparent as vulval, vaginal or leg undesireable veins are because of a problem higher up within the pelvis, namely the ovarian veins, pelvic veins or iliac undesireable veins as the trigger from the problem.
"Varicose veins are only cosmetic"
Visible varicose veins are normally blue or green, bulging through the skin from the leg.
As these are the undesireable veins which are seen people, such as doctors, assume that these are the difficulties. In fact, these aren't the issue but the outcome of an underlying source.
The underlying cause may be the leg muscle pump not working efficiently, and as this fails and gets worse so does the varicose veins. An easy analogy in understanding this really is to believe of the leg as a weed. If you just chop of f the top of the weed it will continue to keep coming back time following time. Varicose veins are the top of the weed. Should you just take them out they will arrive back again time and time again. To deal with a weed and also the varicose undesireable veins you have to treat the root from the issue, the underlying concern from the truncal veins.
"Varicose will re-occur so no point in treating the varicose veins"
Varicose undesireable veins have frequently been referred to as cosmetic difficulties and a minor issue and we now know in most case this is wrong.
You will find a couple of reasons why varicose undesireable veins can arrive back:
* Inadequate therapy methods
* Inadequate assessment
* Consultants with limited knowledge within the field
We know that the only accurate method to assess varicoses is by performing a comprehensive colour duplex ultrasound investigation to map the undesireable veins and their difficulties.
The old way of assessing varicoses was just by looking at the leg and guessing the undesireable veins that had been the problem. The inadequacies of this are apparent in that the wrong vein were often treated.
Now with colour Doppler ultrasound methods, we can not just accurately map the veins beforehand showing the exact problems but we can also use ultrasound throughout the procedures to ensure correct therapy.
The therapy that was the preferred method a few years ago was stripping from the underlying undesireable veins that had been causing the varicoses. We now know that there's a high chance of these veins growing back again. Veins are part from the connective tissue and, in a similar fashion towards the way a cut to the hand will heal, if you cut a vein the vein tries to heal.
Localised bleeding from the operation acts as a 'food' for the vein and so it re grows through the blood, known as revascularisation (re growth) or neovascularisation (new growth).
Varicoses had been quiet frequently treated by non-specialised consultants or junior staff as they had been perceived to become a minor problem and as such the situation was not given the respect it deserved.
With new techniques such as endovenous laser ablation and radiofrequency treatments, consultants becoming much more specialised in varicose undesireable veins treatments and also the advance of diagnostic imaging we are now seeing varicose undesireable veins don't come back if they are treated correctly.
"Standing for long periods causes varicose veins"
The trigger of varicoses and venous related conditions this kind of as thrombophlebitis (clotting of the blood within the superficial veins), venous eczema and venous ulcers is the failure of the leg pump, with the pump not being able to pump the blood back out of the leg.
The failure of the leg pump is predominantly down to the failure of the valves inside the veins. It has been shown that by the age of 9, 1 in 20 girls has already lost their valves and by 18, 1 in 9.
Just simply because the valves have stopped working though does not mean to say that varicose undesireable veins are instantly eminent, as damage is caused over time to the tissues. So individuals who stand for long periods are not more prone to varicose undesireable veins, but standing make the problem arrive to light sooner.
The only real commonly known truth is that varicose veins have a familial trait; that's to say that they tend to 'run within the family'. This doesn't mean to say everyone who has the issue running in their family will go on to develop signs and symptoms. Also some individuals don't have visible varicose undesireable veins but have the symptoms of muscle pump failure this kind of as:
* Leg swelling
* Leg Aching
* Itching legs
* Venous eczema
* Haemosidering (brown staining)
* Lipomatosclerosis (Hardening of the skin and tissue)
* Bleeding veins
* Leg Ulcers
Why we get varicose undesireable veins and who will develop them are questions that aren't yet fully answered or understood. We only understand the traits and also the tendencies, but with more study and improvements in methods and investigations hopefully we can not just understand varicose undesireable veins more clearly but also treat them within the best possible way.
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