The Silent Menace Of Venous Disorders

More than 50 percent of the global population shows signs of venous disorders before reaching the age of 65. Two of the most frequent examples of such medical conditions are varicose or spider veins. Venous disorders are not only unsightly and painful, but they can also cause severe health problems. The lightest ones are the swelling of the legs, a permanent tiredness or phlebitis. The more serious ones can be, for example, blood clots that can travel through the blood vessels and provoke death by pulmonary embolism.

Although they are so widespread, venous disorders and under-diagnosed in lots of cases, thus creating a burden on the health insurance system and increasing the risk of various health conditions. Patients use to neglect the symptoms until the feel they are too severe, so they delay their visit to a specialist.

Doctors generate a part of the problem as well. Many of them have a lack of understanding of the venous reflux, the actual cause of all these disorders. This leads to a delay in applying the correct treatment, sometimes even masking the symptoms until the diseases gets aggravated.

For those of you who want to know more, the venous reflux is synonymous with venous insufficiency. It is characterized by a malfunction of the venous valves which causes the blood to flow through these valves when the individual is standing or sitting. Among the factors that trigger this condition there are pregnancy and genetic influences.

Since the blood pooling in the veins leads to their distension, the disease is self-perpetuating. It is also quite painful, as it generates swelling of the leg extremities and clots. The pigmentation of the skin can also be annoying for some patients, especially for women, who see themselves forced to change their dressing style because of this. In the most severe cases, the high venous pressure can lead to permanent skin ulcers, especially around the ankles, due to the inability of the skin to heal itself as it does in healthy individuals.

The venous reflex treatment may include changes in the patient’s lifestyle, as well as wearing compression stockings. Sometimes, surgery can remedy part of the problem. Vein stripping is one of the most frequent procedures, as well as other vein ablation techniques that started to replace it more and more, lately.