Varicosis is called varicose veins, accompanied by changes in the tissues of blood vessels (thinning, fragility, formation of nodules). In the absence of adequate treatment, the disease progresses, which is expressed in the formation of a capillary network, the walls of the venous vessels thicken and stretch. The next stage in the development of pathology is the deterioration of the venous valves and impaired blood supply to tissues and organs.
Types of varicose veins
According to statistics, every fourth person on Earth suffers from varicose veins to some extent. The disease is classified according to several criteria:
- According to the localization of the disease - varicose veins of the upper extremities, lower extremities, reticular, genital organs, small pelvis.
- According to the depth of flow - intradermal, large and small veins, subcutaneous.
- International classification by class, where class 0 - the disease has no clinical symptoms, but the patient complains of pain in the legs. The last, grade 6, describes the most severe stage of the pathology (constant discovery of new non-healing scars and ulcers progressing tosizes).
Development of pathology
The stages of the course of the disease are classified as follows:
- Compensatory. The patient complains of pulling pains in the lower extremities, feels discomfort, unprovoked leg fatigue. On examination, the doctor may notice spider veins, swollen veins on one or both legs.
- Subcompensatory. The patient has night cramps, a feeling of pressure inside the vessels, a feeling of numbness in the calf muscles, periodic swelling of the ankles, feet or legs.
- Decompensatory. Already existing complaints and symptoms are accompanied by changes in skin color (local pigmentation), ulcerative lesions of varying degrees, pronounced vein bulges in the form of bumps, burning, acute pain in the extremities.
Reasons for appearance
A whole range of causes underlies the emergence and development of the disease. Sometimes a change in lifestyle is enough to provoke the disease, but there are also congenital pathologies. Experts believe that the following factors are the prerequisites:
- Heredity. At risk are people whose blood relatives suffered from varicose veins, pathology in offspring manifests itself in 70% of cases.
- Professional activity in some cases causes varicose veins. Symptoms are most commonly seen in patients whose work requires them to sit or stand for long periods of time (drivers, teachers, office workers,hairdressers).
- Excessive exercise. The risk category includes professional athletes, dancers, and people whose jobs require frequent heavy lifting or physical labor.
- Violation of the cardiovascular system, in particular the valves of blood vessels. Valves are small "latches" placed on the walls of blood vessels that allow blood to flow up the vein and prevent it from returning by closing after each dose of blood. With insufficient closure of the valves, the blood penetrates back and stagnation occurs, which leads to the expansion of the vein, the weakening of its walls.
- Walking in uncomfortable shoes (high heels, no heels at all), tight clothing (pulling body parts, tight corsets or underwear), being overweight.
- Vascular diseases (thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, phlebitis, atherosclerosis), inflammation of the veins, damage to the walls of the veins, etc.
Complications
A number of diseases are characterized by a chronic course, including varicose veins. Symptoms detected at an early stage of the disease will help the patient not to start the disease.
Lack of therapy and neglected cases can provoke a number of comorbidities. We list the main ones:
- eczema;
- bleeding of varicose veins;
- thrombophlebitis;
- hard to stop venous bleeding;
- phlebothrombosis;
- ulcers on the skin in places of dislocation of cones of veins;
- trophic ulcers.
Symptoms of varicose veins
This is one of the most common diseases in the world. Symptoms of varicose veins on the legs appear much earlier than the clinical signs of pathology. In medicine, the main observations of the course of the disease began with the discovery of vasodilation in the legs, where the disease manifests all the symptoms clearly.
Signs of varicose veins include:
- feeling of heaviness in the legs, not due to exercise;
- appearance of vascular network, asterisks;
- nightly, later daytime, calf cramps;
- visual detection of enlarged veins under the skin;
- edema that does not go away at rest;
- pigmentation of skin areas where enlarged veins are located;
- recurrent spontaneous hemorrhages;
- dermatitis;
- periodic appearance of ulcers and their tightening;
- trophic non-healing ulcers.
The appearance of the first sign may indicate the onset of varicose veins on the legs. Symptoms develop progressively, and further lack of therapy will bring a significant deterioration in he alth, and sometimes leads to disability.
Doctors of all types of vein pathology most often diagnose varicose veins of the lower extremities. Symptoms, treatment, as well as diagnosis and research of the disease have come a long historical path of discovery. Today, pathology is treated with modern methods, which include drug therapy, physiotherapy, exercise therapy, surgical interventions, etc.
Varicosispelvis
Women are much more likely to experience vein disease. The least studied type of pathology is pelvic varicose veins.
Symptoms and signs:
- Pain in the lower abdomen during physical or emotional stress.
- Pain during or immediately after intercourse.
- The current diagnosis is infertility, dysmenorrhea.
- Disorders of the bladder, urination.
The disease is diagnosed by an obstetrician-gynecologist, phlebologist, vascular surgeon. At the first stage, a visual examination and palpation of the thighs, buttocks, and perineum are performed. If veins are visible during examination, and when pressed, their increase is felt, the presence of bumps is felt, the patient feels pain, then we can say that this is varicose veins. Symptoms in women, as in men, require confirmation or refutation by diagnostic methods and laboratory tests.
Diagnostic methods:
- Laparoscopy.
- Ultrasound.
- Dopplerography.
- Ovaricography.
With varicose veins in the pelvic area, treatment must begin immediately. The wire is fraught with stagnation of blood, the development of pathologies of neighboring organs. Therapeutic measures are medications designed to restore the elasticity of the walls of blood vessels, increase the lumen of the vein. In advanced cases, surgical removal of the damaged vein or its blockage is acceptable. Blood begins to move through neighboring veins.
Inguinal varicose veins
Symptoms of this type of pathology are observed in men over the age of 50years, but the disease is increasingly common in younger people. In men of reproductive age, the expansion of the spermatic cord causes infertility.
Symptoms of pathology are:
- Pain in the groin during exercise.
- Drawing pains in the scrotum.
- Visual detection of veins.
The cause of the disease can be:
- Heredity, congenital pathology.
- Heavy physical activity (work, intense training, professional sports).
- Hernia in the groin area.
- A neoplasm in the abdominal cavity.
- Constipation.
Therapy is prescribed depending on the stage of the disease and includes drug treatment with coagulants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or surgery.
Other types of varicose veins
Of all types of disease, varicose veins of the lower extremities are relatively quickly diagnosed. Symptoms of the same pathology in other organs are characterized by pulling pains and require careful diagnosis:
- Varicosis of the upper extremities is rare. The risk group includes patients with diagnosed Parkes-Weber disease, patients with thrombosis of the subclavian or axillary vein. It may also occur in people whose work is associated with heavy physical exertion.
- Varicosis of the uterus is a difficult to determine disease, since the symptoms are similar to gynecological pathologies - pulling pains in the lower abdomen,lower back, dysfunction of the uterus, appendages, etc. The cause of the appearance of varicose veins can be pregnancy, heavy physical exertion, heredity, and some diseases. Treatment consists of medication, physiotherapy, a he althy lifestyle, and in extreme cases surgery is indicated.
- Varicose veins of the esophagus and stomach. The disease is provoked by changes in the portal vein, abnormal development of the vascular network. If left untreated, bleeding occurs, burning in the chest area, vein ruptures may occur. Diagnosis is carried out by methods of fluoroscopy, gastroscopy.
- Varicosis of the lips is a cosmetic defect that does not pose a threat to he alth. Occurs as a result of bruising, soft tissue injury. Manifested in the form of a vascular network, removed through plastic surgery.
Medicated treatment
Treatment should begin as soon as varicose veins have been discovered. Symptoms confirmed by professional diagnostics, determining the stage of the disease, will help the specialist prescribe a course of therapy. If the pathology is at the very beginning of its development, then there are enough medications designed to relieve pain, increase the elasticity of blood vessels, thin the blood in order to prevent blood clots.
The arsenal of treatment methods includes external agents, for example, ointments "Troxevasin", "Detralex", "Venolek", etc. Patients are shown to wear compression underwear and constantly take medications. Notless important in therapy is a change in lifestyle, nutrition, and the rejection of bad habits. Experts strongly recommend not to self-medicate, but to go to clinics for a diagnosis.
Procedural treatment
Many are afraid of varicose veins. Symptoms significantly complicate life, and without proper treatment, the disease leads to disability. To seek therapy in time is to avoid additional burden on the body through the use of gentle treatment methods.
Medicine's arsenal includes the following treatments:
- One of the effective ways to fight the disease is hirudotherapy. The bite of a leech injects into the human blood the substance hirudin, which reduces blood viscosity without the use of artificially synthesized drugs. Hirudotherapy is the prevention of thrombosis.
- Endovasal laser coagulation. It is carried out under local anesthesia and destroys spider veins at the initial stage.
- Ozone therapy has a good effect on varicose veins. Symptoms and treatment of the initial stages of the disease are determined to a greater extent by cosmetic defects - the vascular network or asterisks on the body. To eliminate the phenomenon, ozone is injected into the lumen of the vessel, gluing the walls, the blood supply is redirected through he althy veins and vessels. Sometimes multiple sessions are needed.
- Sclerotherapy is used for mild venous nodes that show symptoms of varicose veins. The photo of the procedure demonstrates the introduction into the affected vein of certain medications that glue the walls of the vessels. Blood moves in he althyvessels.
- Phlebectomy is a surgical operation in which diseased veins are removed. The intervention is carried out in a hospital, the next day the patient can go home. Within a month after the operation, the patient was prescribed to wear special tights or bandage the limb with an elastic bandage.
Movement is life and he alth
Metered physical activity has a beneficial effect on varicose veins. Thanks to special sets of exercises, it is possible to avoid stagnation of blood in the veins, increase vascular tone, improve blood circulation and lymph flow.
Even in severe cases, do not give up physical activity. The doctor can give recommendations or referral to preventive physical education classes, where they will select an individual training program (for example, Mikulin's gymnastics) taking into account the current state of he alth. Sports make a huge contribution to the patient's rehabilitation.
Recommended sports:
- Water aerobics, swimming.
- Nordic walking and walking.
- Cycling.
- Golf.
- Complex of yoga therapy exercises.
Prevention
Varicose veins can overtake any person, in urban conditions this is facilitated by physical inactivity, and in rural areas - hard physical labor. Preventive measures help to avoid the disease.
- For people of standing and sitting professions - periodic light physical exercises. AlsoCompression garments are recommended.
- Wear medium-heeled shoes (up to 4cm), avoid high heels, or minimize time spent in uncomfortable shoes.
- Avoid hot bath or sauna temperatures.
- Walking, running, swimming, cycling as much as possible.
- Quit smoking and alcohol.
- Get rid of the habit of crossing one leg over the other when sitting.
- Track your hormones and regulate them as much as possible.
- More often walk without shoes - barefoot on the ground, grass.
By following a he althy lifestyle, you can avoid diseases such as varicose veins. Symptoms and treatment, photo procedures and their effectiveness, as well as modern methods of prevention could be seen in this article. In case of concern, you should seek advice from a therapist, phlebologist, vascular surgeon.
