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Palm Clinic Discuss What Causes Varicose Veins & How to Treat Them

Wednesday 31 July 2019, 4:37PM

By Beckie Wright

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Palm Clinic say a genetic tendency toward weak vein valves plays a big role in causing varicose veins, and hormones also play a part, accounting for the increased incidence in women. Puberty, pregnancy (pregnant women are very prone), and menopause, as well as taking estrogen, progesterone, and birth control pills, can weaken vein valves and change leg circulation. Aging, obesity, and prolonged standing can also cause leg veins to balloon.

Spider veins, the more delicate red or blue tracings that can pop up on the skin's surface like kinky spider webs, are a minor form of varicose veins and can precede development of the more unsightly variation or cause cosmetic concerns of their own. Sun exposure can make spider veins worse by breaking down collagen under the skin.

Both varicose and spider veins result when valves designed to keep blood from running backward away from the heart and back down into the leg fail or become loose and flabby, allowing backwash, which stretches veins and even slowly leaks into ankle and leg tissue, causing swelling.

For the diagnosis and treatment of varicose veins Palm Clinic now use duplex ultrasound to look at the circulatory system of the leg. This means taking a sharp, two-dimensional picture instead of a doctor listening to blood flow in the leg with a Doppler device and trying to decide which veins are affected and where.

Lasers are also used to send bursts of concentrated light into the vein, collapsing it. When the laser hits the skin, there is a tinge of discomfort, but the doctor quickly cools the skin off. Another, even newer technique is called foam sclerotherapy, where an agent, such as a detergent or emulsifier, is agitated with air. The foam is then injected into the problematic vein, gradually causing the walls to swell and stick together, blocking off the vein. The deeper venous systems take over the blood flow.

Regarding the chances of a blood clot, Doctors prefer to do these procedures on people with normal clotting capability, and people taking Warfarin and aspirin require special consideration, and as for the varicose veins returning, yes, there is a chance. Palm Clinic say, if you have the genetic susceptibility, smaller ones could form, however you should be relatively disease-free. And you can always do another procedure, so for more information on plastic surgery Auckland, breast lifts, laser clinics and microdermabrasion please go to https://www.palmclinic.co.nz .