Why you shouldn’t ignore varicose veins in your legs (Part 2)
Continued from last week
Why are ladies more susceptible to varicose veins?
Among females, due to some hormones, the walls of veins becomes enlarged & dilated. Besides, during pregnancy because of lots of pressure on leg veins, veins become weak and varicosed. In majority of women after delivery varicosity disappear on its own, and veins assume normal diameter & shape.
In some ladies due to tumor of the uterus or tumor in the abdomen, varicose veins are likely to develop. One should be vigilant in such cases.
Fashion is playing havoc among ladies. High heeled sandals & tight belts and panties are significant contributors to development of varicose veins, as these items obstruct the normal flow of blood in veins.
What to do if you have varicose veins?
In African countries, people are quite ignorant of this disease of varicose veins. Patients of varicose veins due to ignorance, either go to a general surgeon, a general physician or a bone specialist for consultation. When varicose veins get complicated and turn into a varicose ulcer, these patients then go to either a skin specialist or a homoeopath for treatment of so-called eczema and skin problem. Sometimes varicose vein is misdiagnosed as arthritis or sciatica. Because of ignorance & misdiagnosis, a patient of varicose vein keeps on shunting from one specialist to another. This leads to a considerable delay in treatment and disability increases.
If any person is having dark colored patches or ulcer in legs, immediately consult a cardiovascular or a vascular surgeon instead of a general surgeon. If suspicion of varicose vein arises, never make delay in seeking consultation and treatment by a vascular surgeon, so that timely intervention may prevent further complications. Treatment of varicose veins 1. For effective treatment of varicose veins, always go to a hospital where services of a full-time vascular surgeon are available
2. In the early stages of varicose veins, exercise and sometimes medical treatment including sclerotherapy suffice.
3. In advanced stages of varicose veins, surgery is required. There are various surgical treatments, like phlebectomy, vein stripping. In phlebectomy, smallsized varicose vein are removed while in stripping long- sized varicose veins are removed. There are no harmful effects on the body or legs after removal of varicose veins.
4. Sometimes special techniques like endoscopy are used for varicose veins operation especially in cases of varicose ulcer. In this technique, connecting channels are tied under endoscopic vision to prevent pooling of impure blood in the feet to minimize the chances of recurrence of ulcers.
5. These days, new non surgical techniques like laser treatment (EVLT) as well as radio frequency ablation technique (RFA) are also employed for varicose veins treatment, which drastically shortens the hospital stay and significantly minimizes the number of cuts in the skin. Almost no stitches are required in these techniques. The patient can go home the next day and resume his office work soon after.
Concluded.
Dr Pandey is a Senior Consultant in the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi India. Mobile--- 9911,114081; 9810,114081 Email: drpandeykk@gmail.com, drpandeyin @yahoo.com