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Painful Swollen Leg Veins | Therapy To Improve How Your Legs Look & Feel

Do You Suffer From Painful Swollen Leg Veins?

Do you notice that the veins are your legs are enlarging and beginning to bulge under the skin? Do these veins look unsightly and make you self-conscious of your legs? Do our swollen leg veins often cause painful symptoms, such as achiness, heaviness, throbbing, burning, or itching? Do your legs fatigue easily? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are likely suffering from varicose veins. Varicose veins are a circulation disease that leads to the development of abnormal enlarged, bulging, and twisted veins that form just beneath the surface of the skin on the legs. These veins are often ugly in appearance and can lead to chronic discomfort and swelling. The veins are usually larger and more noticeable when you are on your feet and shrink down some when the legs are elevated. Symptoms are often worse when sitting or standing for prolonged periods of time. They often lead to leg swelling, leg fatigue, and discoloration of the skin of the lower legs and ankles.

painful swollen leg veins

If you have such a condition, you should seek an opinion from Austin Vein Specialists about treating your condition.

What Are Varicose Veins?

Varicose veins are a circulation disease of the veins of the legs. It is caused by faulty damaged valves inside the veins and weak thinned vein walls that stretch and enlarge. When veins are normal then dozens of functional valves inside that help combat gravity pressure and propel blood flow upwards towards the heart. When veins in the leg are normal, they function to return oxygen deprived blood back up to the heart and lungs. Veins perform this function through the use of mechanical valve energy. But when vein valves are weakened or genetically faulty then the valve break and become weakened and dysfunctional. As a result, they can no longer efficiently push the blood upward. Rather, blood seeps backwards between the valves due to the natural back pressure of gravity. The backflow, referred to as vein reflux, causes the leg veins to become painful swollen and visibly unsightly. The veins begin to enlarge and “balloon out” due to the elevated pressure. They also elongate and coil on themselves like a stretched spring, giving them a twisted serpentine appearance. These painful swollen leg veins are known by the medical term of varicose veins.

Leg Varicose Veins Treatments Austin

What Causes Varicose Veins to Develop?

Varicose veins are most commonly a genetic inherited condition. They are usually a condition passed through genes in your DNA from parents or grandparents to their offspring or future generations. Certain types of body stress may allow the genetic condition to manifest earlier or more severely. Situation that make varicose veins become noticeable or worsen include pregnancy, prolonged standing (for example, occupation such as hairdressers, bank tellers, cashiers, etc), or trauma to the legs. Blood clots can also cause varicose veins to develop.

Are Varicose Veins Only A Cosmetic Concern?

No. There is a frequent misconception that varicose veins are only a cosmetic concern and that they don’t pose a health risk. This is very far from the truth. In reality, varicose veins are a medical disease that causes many problems and complications if left untreated. As time passes, varicose veins usually become rather painful and affect peoples ability to stand for prolonged periods and may also cause discomfort that interferes with activities. In addition, the condition can lead to progressive leg swelling and cause asymmetry of the legs to develop, where one leg is larger than the other. Varicose veins can also lead to blood clots or bleeding from the skin. Many people with varicose veins also develop deterioration in the health of their skin in the lower legs, ankles, and feet. This presents with dermatitis, redness of the skin, infections of the skin, brown pigmentation of the skin, and even ulcer or wounds of the ankles and feet.

How Do I Get Rid of My Painful Swollen Leg Veins?

There are many methods utilized to cure and remove varicose veins. Most of these therapies are done in a doctors office by a board-certified vein specialist, referred to as a vascular surgeon. Although surgery used to be the most frequent option, surgery is not utilized very often anymore. New modern technologies through IV sites are the most common therapy today. This includes use of lasers, radiofrequency energy, medical glues, and medications called sclerotherapy drugs. Most treatments take about 30 minutes to perform and do not require any skin incisions since they are performed through an IV placed under ultrasound guidance. The recovery time is typically very short.

Will My Painful Swollen Leg Veins Get Worse If I Don’t Get Them Treated?

Yes. Varicose veins always progress and worsen as time passes. The vein valve damage tends to spread from diseased faulty veins into healthy veins over time. As this occurs, the pressure inside the leg veins builds up higher and higher, causing further damage to the tissues of the legs, ankles, and feet. As a result, the more time that passes with varicose veins in the legs, the worse the legs will look and and that worse that they will feel. Varicose veins will multiply in number and increase in size in everyone with the condition. Therefore, the sooner that treatment is done the less the number of procedures that will be requires and often the less invasive the procedures will need to be.

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