In line with its mission, the Editorial Board of MedTvoiLokony makes every effort to provide reliable medical content supported by the latest scientific knowledge. The additional flag “Checked Content” indicates that the article has been reviewed by or written directly by a physician. This two-step verification: a medical journalist and a doctor allows us to provide the highest quality content in line with current medical knowledge.
Our commitment in this area has been appreciated, among others, by by the Association of Journalists for Health, which awarded the Editorial Board of MedTvoiLokony with the honorary title of the Great Educator.
Varicose veins are a common problem among older women, not only of an aesthetic but also health nature. It often affects younger women, for example due to pregnancy or obesity, and older men.
The presence of varicose veins, i.e. the widened and twisted veins visible with the naked eye on the lower extremities, is an expression of chronic venous insufficiency. In the normal, healthy veins of the legs, there are valves to prevent the blood from flowing back. When these valves fail to function properly for any reason, blood remains in the veins, causing them to widen. Varicose veins may rupture under the influence of sometimes even a minor trauma, and may develop inflammation associated with the formation of blood clots. There are methods of conservative treatment of venous insufficiency that help to reduce its symptoms and prevent the development of more advanced stages of the disease. The varicose veins themselves can be treated invasively, e.g. by aesthetic surgery techniques, and the particularly large and extensive ones can be surgically removed.
Removal of varicose veins should be discussed with a vascular surgeon who will present the types of treatments and select the best of the many available methods:
– stripping – is the only radical method of treatment and consists in removing varicose veins through many small skin incisions along their course
– sclerotherapy – consists in administering a chemical agent to the vein that causes its inflammation, and then shrinks and overgrows
– cryotherapy – this is the effect of very low temperatures on varicose veins, which can then be absorbed by themselves or are removed (cryostripping)
– coagulation – here, in turn, the action of high temperature is used, which damages the walls of the veins and causes them to overgrow; Both of these methods require a special probe to be introduced into the vein, which is significantly cooled down or warmed up
– laser therapy – enables the closure of the lumen of the vein without the need to make cuts on the skin, it is the least invasive method
Unfortunately, recurrences of varicose veins after these procedures happen in about half of the cases. In order to reduce the risk of recurrence, conservative treatment of venous insufficiency should be continued after surgery, including compression therapy, i.e. treatment with pressure and additional pharmacological agents.
med. Aleksandra Czachowska
Also read: Treatment of varicose veins
A vascular surgeon near you