Some in depth knowledge about varicose veins or varicer, and spider veins

Veins also help to pump the blood back to the heart. When the muscles in the body contract, the vein walls are pressed a little together. Then the blood is pressed to move, but since the valves hinder the blood to move backward, it will be pressed in the direction towards the heart.

At some stage the leaflet of the valves in the dilated veins do not work effectively anymore in pumping the blood back to the heart.

At this stage the blood gathers in the deepest place of the vein, and here the vain can become grossly inflated.

Varicose veins very often occur on the legs. An even more common place for varicose veins is the rectal area. In this case they are called hemorrhoids. Varicose veins more seldome occur in other places, but they can occur everywhere.

Complication of varicose veins

The blood in the delated veins can coagolate. There can also develop blood clots in varicose veins, valled venous trombosis. Thereby a vein with varicose delation can get clogged. Sometimes a blood clot from a varicose vein is carried by the blood stream to the lungs or the brains causing pulonary embolsm or stroke.

Furthermore the deleted veins can get inflamed and infected. Such additional complications will increase the dilation and the symptoms.

Sometimes the varicose veins causes serious disturbances of the draining of blood from an area and severe swelling of the leg (edema).

Varicose vains can sometimes cause skin tissue destruction and soars that will not heal.

Sometimes varicose veins may rupture and cause the contents to be emptied and then cause bleeding. The bleeding can sometimes be life thretening.

The pain and edema from the varicose vains can be so great that it is impossible to stand or walk for a period.

They may however occur deep between the muscular areas of for example the legs. Such varicose veins gives more often serious venous trombosis.

Gradually  more typical symptoms develop. There will be inflated and twisted vein portions in which the area around the valves are most prominent, and these protions are bluish of color. By further development the area around and just above the valves get grossly swallen.

Internal varicose veins are not seen clearly this way.

Other symptoms of varicos veins are:

- The legs ache and are  felt heavy

- Swelling of an entire leg or a portion of the leg.

- Brownish-blue skin discoloration around the veins

- The skin may also darken because of aggregation of vaste products

- The skin over the ancle can shrink and at the same time there is hardened fat under the skin (lipodermatoscerosis)

- An urge to move the legs that can only be alleviated by steadily moving the legs. The feeling often have the character of cramping, creeping of ants or small elctric shocks. (Restless leg syndrome)

- Far developed varicose veins can rupture and cause bleeding.

A factor causing varicose veins is an increased pressure over longer time in the area where the dilated veins occur. This increased pressure can be caused by:

- Heavy lifting or exagerated weight training over a longer period.

- Standing still in longer times. For a person doing so, there will be an increased pressure in the legs combined with lack of pumping action of the blood towards the heart.

- Over-weight. Over-veight increases the pressure down on the lower body regions and make veins inflate.

- Edema, or excessive water assambing in the body, caused by other disease conditions.

- Increased abdominal pressure, and this again can be caused by digestive problems.

- Pregnancy, especially if the pressure down on the legs are not relieved by elevating the legs when resting.

- Lack of excercise or muscular activity. In this case the blood will not be pumped efficiently back to the heart, and blood and body fluid (lymph) will gather in the lower body.

- Some people report that a diet with little carbohydrates, little fruit and vegetables and high protein content causes or worsens varicose veins. This may however just seem so because such diet make loose body fat and make loose weight and then the varicose veins get more clearly visible. Adding much fruit and vegetables to the diet is reported to prevent this effect, and the diet will still make you loose weight.

Also weakness in the tissue of the veins contribute to the develpment of varicose veins. The causes of such veakness can be:

- Heredity. Varicose veins are more common in some families than others. Teenage spider veins seem even to be congenital to some extend.

- Women have a greater tendency to develop varicose veins that men.

- Physical injury to an area can cause weknesses that contribute to the development of varicos eveins.

- Aging. Varicose veins develope more easily in elder persons than younger.

- Spider veins can also be caused by excessive sun exposure to an area.

- Hormonal changes can cause spider veins.

- Watching the weight. A heavy weight will increase the pressure down upon the lower areas of the body and a weight reduction will greatly decrease this cause factor.

- Eating healthy food.

- Having enough physical activity.

- Avoidig prolonged and frequent heavy strains.

- Avoiding prolonged standing.

- Avoiding continous sitting still at the same place.

The same measures can help to alleviate the condition.

They help the veins to constric and relax more dynamically at the appropriate time, so that the veins more easily empty themselvs in the direction towards the heart.

They provide nutrients that promotes tissue healing and regaining of the elastic properties of the tissues.

They stimulate the activities that clean out clogging of the vains.

To use elastic stockings (graduated compression stockings)  can reduce swelling, improve blood flow foreward and improve the nutritional state of the tissue, and thereby help alleviating the condition. However, such treatment can worsen the over-all condition if there is also arterial disease present.

Anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and aspirine are sometimes useful when there is blood clots (thrombosis) combined with inflammation (thrombophlebitis) in superficial varicose veins.