If your legs are painful, chances are that you have a condition called venous insufficiency. So, go straight to the top vein treatment center in your area for examination. This condition occurs when the veins in your legs are unable to carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart and lungs. The blood usually flows against gravity or upwards and when the valves in veins are damaged, the process doesn’t work successfully.
Instead of closing fully to prevent blood from flowing backward, these one-way valves close partly. This allows some blood to get to the heart and some of it to leak and pool in leg veins. As more blood pools, venous insufficiency symptoms begin to emerge. That’s because blood increase in veins will lead to increased pressure that will make their walls bulge and swell.
What happens next?
If early venous insufficiency symptoms are ignored, the condition will continue to worsen. Overtime it will become chronic venous insufficiency and then the vein walls will be much weakened and valves will be impaired. The veins will be filled with blood (varicose veins) and this will be clearly seen when you are standing up. Being a long-term condition, chronic venous insufficiency can also happen due to a previous blood clot/thrombus in your leg. So it is necessary to get in touch with one of the top vein doctors as they can examine your veins and determine the real cause of pain and other symptoms.
Who is likely to develop venous insufficiency symptoms?
Generally, females are more prone to vein issues because of their reproductive hormone called progesterone. Those who are carrying pregnancy, reaching menopause, or using hormone replacement therapy are highly susceptible. Every adult, despite their age, can have varicose veins and related symptoms. However, older people beyond fifty years are more likely to have vascular issues because their veins have already weakened over the years.
Just like some people are prone to hereditary conditions and diseases, some people will develop venous insufficiency symptoms just because they run in their families. Any person who is obese is vulnerable too as excessive weight can strain their pelvic and leg veins. Do you have a history of DVT (deep vein thrombosis) in your legs? If so, your probability for developing vascular problems is higher. The same goes for people who work while sitting down or standing up for several hours. The strain they put their lower body through can eventually lead to vein issues.
Venous insufficiency symptoms to expect
If you have venous insufficiency (venous reflux disease), there will be signs that will give you a clue. These include the following:
- Itching and tingling and this might get worse during summer months
- Pain that increases when you stand up and improves when your legs are elevated
- A dull ache and/or cramps in legs
- Restless leg syndrome or heaviness in legs because of all the blood that has pooled in veins.
- Ankle swelling
There will also be venous insufficiency symptoms that will affect your leg skin. These entail the following:
- Cracked or irritated skin, especially if it is scratched
- Red or swollen as well as crusted or weepy skin. This is called stasis dermatitis or venous eczema.
- Varicose veins on the surface of skin
- This is when the skin becomes harder, tighter and thinner as the layer of fat beneath the skin becomes inflamed. The area that is hugely affected is the one above the ankles.
- Venous ulcers. These are open wounds that are slow-healing and so painful. They mostly affect the ankles area. Go to a good vein treatment center if you have leg ulcers. The doctor will find out whether these ulcers are caused by venous reflux. If you develop leg ulcers or sores, pain and swelling, it is a sign that you have deep venous incompetence or DVI. This occurs when one has valves problems or when the veins are blocked. If wearing compression stockings does not solve the problem, then it might be necessary to undergo surgery to treat your ulcers.
Tests done by vein doctors
Once you visit your primary care doctor, he or she will carry out a physical exam and ask about your venous insufficiency symptoms and medical history. If they suspect that you have a vascular problem, they will most likely refer you to a real vein treatment center where you will find a doctor who can help you. They will carry out a thorough diagnosis based on the appearance of your leg veins when you are standing or sitting with your legs dangling.
Further, they will perform a duplex ultrasound exam of the affected leg to check how the blood is flowing in your veins and to locate other issues within the veins. There could be blood clots or a different problem affecting your artery. After locating the real problem, the doctor at the leading vein treatment center will discuss your treatment options.
Treatment options
As a basic measure, your vascular expert might suggest simple self-care steps you could take to manage your venous insufficiency symptoms at home. These include the following:
- Avoid sitting down or standing up for prolonged periods of time without even a single break. It will be great if you can walk around your work station and stretch your legs while working. This will boost blood flow and reduce your risk of developing more varicose veins.
- If you are obese, try to see a nutritionist who can help you alter your current diet so as to drop some weight. Team this up with regular helpful exercises and eventually you will lose weight.
- To improve blood circulation, always take a walk as this simple exercise has been shown to work, especially, if you have smaller varicose veins called spider veins. If you get into a habit of walking regularly, don’t be surprised to see them disappear without medical help at the best vein treatment center.
- If you are suffering from venous ulcers, learn how to care for them at home. The first step is to visit a vein treatment center, of course, as that’s where you could learn how to care for your ulcers in order to avoid infections.
- Once you come home from work in the evening, take the time to raise your legs. This will reduce swelling and inflammation.
- Wear compression stockings. These are special stockings used to improve blood circulation in legs. They compress or squeeze the legs to help blood move only in one direction: upward to the heart. These are very good at reducing ankle swelling and might also play a role in reducing development of blood clots.
In case you have advanced skin changes, the vein treatment center or doctor will give your case more attention. You will be told about the skin care treatments you can use without worsening your current skin appearance. Additionally, the vein doctors do recommend certain drugs that might help heal your skin and reduce pain.
Less invasive cures for venous insufficiency symptoms
These are offered for leg pain as they eliminate it and that feeling of heaviness and fatigue. Secondly, these cures can heal skin ulcers or sores triggered by poor blood circulation in your veins as well as heal lipodermatosclerosis. These treatments mainly include the following:
- Sclerotherapy – Among the oldest cures for varicose veins, sclerotherapy is the first cure your vein treatment center is likely to recommend. There are different forms of sclerotherapy now and so it is no longer only done with a liquid solution such as saline water. Now there are modern forms of sclerotherapy, including the ultrasound guided type and the one using a foam sclerorising agent. Foam sclerotherapy is being used to treat big varicose veins which traditional sclerotherapy cannot heal. Generally, the method involves injections with a sclerosing agent (liquid or foam) and once the veins are injected, they harden and disappear weeks later on their own. Except for the tingling when the needles are being inserted, there is no pain expected and the physician at your preferred vein treatment center will not give you anesthesia.
- Endovascular treatments – These are two: endovenous laser ablation (EVLA or EVLT) and radio frequency ablation (RFA). EVLA is popularly chosen when a patient has smaller to medium size varicose veins and it uses laser energy to damage the affected leg veins. On the other hand, RFA is chosen when a person has larger varicose veins that cannot be removed via EVLT or sclerotherapy. Radio waves heat is delivered to the sick vein via a thin catheter that is inserted through the tiny incisions.
Once the vein is heated, it shrinks and turns into a thick fibrous tissue that later goes away on its own. In each case, anesthetic drug is given prior to the start of the treatment to reduce pain and discomfort. Another thing to note is that once a vein is destroyed, the blood that previously passed through it locates a healthier vein to flow through. You have several veins in legs and destruction of a view does not affect normal blood circulation. If you want to learn more, ask the doctor who will treat your venous insufficiency symptoms to help with information or facts.
- Phlebectomy – First, the doctor will create tiny surgical incisions in your leg skin closer to the damaged vein. Next, he or she will remove the vein through one incision. If there is no other way to destroy your vein, phlebectomy will be done.
- Vein stripping and ligation –This technique is rarely used nowadays because of the complications it causes afterwards. It might require that you are admitted because it is more of a normal surgical procedure and you might have a few veins to remove. A large superficial saphenous vein is often tied off and then pulled out.
Each of the afore-mentioned procedure has its pros and cons, explaining why you need to understand each before allowing the doctor to go ahead. It is also necessary that you go to a vein treatment center early or as soon as you realize that you have varicose veins and other symptoms. By seeking medical help early, you can avoid severe complications such as venous ulcers, stasis dermatitis, phlebitis, deep vein thrombosis and more. So, call a health provider if:
- You notice varicose veins that have venous insufficiency symptoms such as pain, cramps, itch, heaviness in legs and s on.
- Your legs are getting swollen repeatedly even if you lift them. If swelling is suddenly accompanied by pain, fever, redness or sores, then you should quickly go to a vein treatment center.
- Your symptoms seem to worsen no matter what you do to reduce them, including wearing compression stockings.
If you act early or quickly, you will improve the appearance of your leg skin and also remove uncomfortable symptoms like pain, itching, fatigue and cramps and more. Besides, early treatment assures that you will only get cured via less invasive techniques like RFA, EVLA and sclerotherapy. If you overlook your venous insufficiency symptoms now, you might end up being cured via invasive surgery like vein stripping.
Moreover, you can avoid living in severe pain and being incapacitated when you could be out there doing something you like or earning a living. So take your condition seriously prior to becoming chronic as then you will spend a lot of time and money and endure more suffering.
Conclusion
Chronic venous insufficiency problem tends to worsen in the fullness of time. All the same, it can be controlled while in its earliest stages by going to a good vein treatment center near you. As well as seeking medical help, you can follow easy self-care steps to manage your varicose veins and related symptoms. By doing so, you can keep your venous reflux disease from worsening. So, call one of the top vein doctors in your area and set your first appointment. These professionals can be located online or through people you may know who have been treated previously. As long as a doctor or a vein treatment center has good reviews and is reputable, you can go ahead and begin the process.