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What are varicose veins

Varicose veins are permanent, abnormal swellings of the veins under the skin of the legs.

These may be localized, limited to well defined areas or, occasionally, diffuse covering wide areas.
Varicose veins are a visible symptom of circulatory disorder.

They are always the result of the veins’ incapacity to efficiently deliver the blood from the lower members back to the heart. This is known as venous insufficiency. The blood stays in the veins causing permanent swelling, and this is most clearly seen in those closest to the surface of the skin.

Varicose veins are common among women, although a high percentage of men also suffer from them. Statistics vary as some don’t include the milder forms, but most coincide that over 20% of the adult population suffers badly from varicose veins.

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They generally appear after the age of 30 and become more apparent with age.

Women suffer the most, and the number of women affected is more than 3 times greater than the number of men.

Highest Risk: women with “weight problems” and those who work standing. Waitresses, hairdressers, shop assistants...

It might be said that the final cause of varicose veins is our upright position, the fact that we walk on two legs and not on all fours. The venous system is the most affected by our vertical position.

That why the ankles swell and feel tired when a person stands for a long while without moving. That’s also why people who work standing suffer most from varicose veins.

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Venous circulation in the lower members depends on the twofold vein system: the deep vein system and the superficial one, connected by veins known as perforators. A large proportion of the blood flows through a large number of veins in the deep vein system.

The venous system’s function is to deliver the blood from the tissues back to the heart. The deep venous system is responsible for this in the lower members, collecting the blood from muscle tissue and receiving blood from the superficial system from the connecting veins.

In a horizontal position, the internal pressure of the veins in the lower members is greater than that of the right auricle, where the deep venous system drains. Thus venous circulation occurs easily. In an upright position however, the blood must overcome gravity, and to do so receives help form the muscles which act as venous pumps.

Superficial veins, however, do not have muscular mass in movement to help them. Their walls only have a thin muscular layer to help to propel the blood.

To ensure that the blood flows in the right direction within the veins they are equipped with semi-lunar valves, small semi-spherical folds in the walls of the veins. The fragility of the system which depends on these valves causes the varicose veins.

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