What is venous insufficiency?
Venous insufficiency means your veins aren’t returning blood from your legs to your heart as well as they should.
The valves within your veins keep blood flowing in the right direction. If they get damaged and the walls of your veins weaken, blood can’t flow back to your heart as efficiently as it should. As a result, your veins start to fill with blood.
Chronic venous insufficiency is more likely to develop as you get older, especially if you’re female and have a family history of venous insufficiency. Other things that increase your risk of developing venous insufficiency include:
- History of deep vein thrombosis
- Obesity
- Pregnancy
- Sitting for long periods
- Standing for long periods
- Being tall
Chronic venous insufficiency often causes varicose veins. These are thickened, twisted veins that show through your skin.
What are the symptoms of venous insufficiency?
Symptoms of venous insufficiency affecting your legs include:
- Dull aching
- Heaviness
- Cramping
- Itching
- Tingling
- Swelling
- Pain
- Skin discoloration
The pain caused by chronic venous insufficiency typically worsens when you’re standing and gets better if you raise your legs or begin walking.
You might also develop skin problems, including stasis dermatitis, which causes red, swollen skin that weeps and forms crusts. Your skin might feel irritated, then crack if you scratch it. Another condition often caused by venous insufficiency is lipodermatosclerosis, which causes the skin on your legs and ankles to thicken and harden.
You might eventually develop ulcers around the lower legs or ankles. Ulcerations are skin wounds that heal very slowly.
How is venous insufficiency treated?
Self-care is important when treating venous insufficiency. You should avoid standing or sitting for long periods, and if you do have to stay still, try and move your feet and legs to help the circulation. Regular exercise is best, and also helps with weight loss if you’re overweight or obese.
Graduated compression stockings improve blood flow by gently squeezing the veins in your legs. If your symptoms are getting worse or you have any complications, you might need to undergo treatment for your venous insufficiency.
Vein Care Medical Center primarily uses endovenous thermal techniques (EVLA and RFA) to treat venous insufficiency. EVLA and RFA are gold-standard procedures for damaged saphenous vein treatment. It’s non-surgical and uses cutting-edge heat energy to seal the most severely affected veins.
After treatment, the sealed veins gradually disappear, absorbed back into your body. Blood that used to use the affected veins flows through healthier veins instead, improving your circulation.
If your venous insufficiency has led to leg ulcers developing, Dr. Landau is also highly skilled in treating these problematic wounds.
If you have any symptoms of venous insufficiency, don’t wait for your condition to get worse. Call or send an email to Vein Care Medical Center today to book an appointment.
