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 swollen and lumpy veins on her legs, pain and other problems with varicose veins.
Signs of varicose veins in the legs
The initial signs of varicose veins in the legs are considered to be the appearance of small vessels on the surface of the skin. They appear in small clusters on the thighs. This is especially noticeable with cellulite. By the way, cellulite is directly related to varicose veins. The adipose tissue altered by cellulite makes it difficult for blood to drain from the lower limbs and increases the risk of developing varicose veins. The vessels that appear on the skin are called telangiectasias by doctors. These vascular networks are formed by small vessels, which can be a simple cosmetic defect, or they can serve as a sign of the onset of varicose veins.
To find out if you are at risk for varicose veins, it is recommended that you consult a doctor. The doctor will also recommend the treatment method that should be used for vascular networks. Another symptom of varicose veins is swelling of 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 leg pain. The pain usually appears in the afternoon, a field of intense physical exertion. The calf muscles hurt, the pain is pulling and it is not very strong.
So, if you have these symptoms: varicose veins, swelling, pain in the legs, you should see a doctor.
Medical treatment of varicose veins of the legs
There are many drugs that are effective in the initial stages of the treatment of varicose veins of the legs. These are the so-called venotonic drugs. They give tangible results only in complex therapies. So, in order to enhance the effect of venotonics, patients with varicose veins should constantly wear compression stockings. These are special socks, stockings and tights. They gently compress the diseased limb without compressing the vessels. Thus, the veins receive an additional tone, and the disease develops more slowly.
However, special attention is paid to the fact that drug treatment cannot completely get rid of varicose veins. This is just 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 undergo a course of lymphatic drainage. This is a special massage performed manually or through hardware. After lymphatic drainage, swelling decreases, the outflow of blood and lymph from the lower limbs improves. However, the effect of this procedure is temporary, short-lived, so it is impossible to refuse to take venotonic and wear compression stockings.
Folk remedies in the treatment of varicose veins
In addition to the medical treatment of varicose veins, you can try to use folk remedies. Thus, a shower gives a good effect. Gradually, over several days, it is necessary to massage the legs with a jet of water from the shower. Every day, by slightly lowering the water temperature, 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, prepare a contrast shower: turn on hot and then cold water for a few seconds, and you need to finish the procedure with cold water. After such a shower, the legs should turn red. Rub them with a towel and grease them with a nourishing cream.
Foot baths are useful. Note that with varicose veins you cannot take hot baths.
So that the legs do not get tired during the day, take a bath according to this recipe in the morning. Birch leaves, nettle and burdock (each 1 tablespoon) are prepared with 1 liter of boiling water and left to infuse for half an hour. After that, the resulting broth must be diluted with warm water (so as to bring it to body temperature) and you can take a bath. Keep your feet in the decoction for at least 20 minutes.
Tones the vessels of the legs and a bath of lemon balm, oregano, chamomile and nettle. Take 2 cups of the mixture (mix all herbs in equal parts) and brew it with a liter of boiling water. After infusing the broth, add 2 liters of water and keep your feet in a warm bath for 20 minutes.
Note that folk remedies cannot completely treat varicose veins, they 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 modified by varicose veins. This medicine causes the destruction of the inner layer of the vein, so the vein itself gradually attaches and resolves over a period of 1. 5 years. Blood circulation begins to pass through healthy veins. Treatment requires 3-6 sclerotherapy sessions for each leg. After sclerotherapy sessions, you will see the result only after 2-8 weeks, and 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 recur very rarely.
If sclerotherapy is performed using an ultrasound, it is called ecosclerotherapy. This method is better because the scanner allows the doctor to fully control the movement of the syringe in the vein and to monitor the uniform distribution of the drug.
Foam-shaped sclerotherapy is a method in which a drug in the form of a microfoam is injected into the affected vein. The microfoam has closer contact with the walls of the vein and this leads to greater efficiency of this method. The microfoam pushes the blood out of the vein, and then the vein sticks 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.
Interventions for varicose veins
One of the most modern surgical methods for treating varicose veins in 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 radically removed, the effect persists for many years.
Interventions under general anesthesia are no less effective, with the only difference that patients tolerate local anesthesia much more easily than general anesthesia.
Miniflebectomy: This operation is performed under local anesthesia. The doctor makes punctures through which he removes the varicose tributaries of the veins. This operation can serve as a substitute for sclerotherapy in some cases. Patients recover quickly, there are no scars, and compression stockings should only be worn for 1-2 weeks.
Short striptease: This method involves removing not the entire vein, but only its affected area. The doctor determines the exact location 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 venous dissection method is now widely used. Put simply, an incision is made on the affected vein, into which an endoscope is inserted. The doctor has the opportunity to see the inside of the affected vein. By moving the endoscope, the doctor finds out the length of the varicose vein and then cuts it. The advantages of this method are that the doctor sees everything he does, this allows him not to make mistakes and to minimize the trauma that the patient inevitably receives 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.
Intravascular laser coagulation is another low traumatic method for treating varicose veins. An ultrasound scanner monitors the introduction of a light guide into the vein. Then the light guide is moved to 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 ceases to function.
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 pay special attention to the legs. As a preventive measure, it is recommended to run, swim, take a shower massage, try not to get fat, eat right and. . . never lose heart!