Varicose veins are a form of benign disease of the return veins of the lower extremities, which results in a dilation of the same and this eventually causes an insufficiency or slowing of the venous return of the extremities. We could identify them in many ways but the main one is visual, that is, it is the way in which we see some worm-like dilatations in the lower extremities and the way to detect them in a more academic or rigorous way would be the study by ultrasound, by ultrasound and by Doppler, with which we see a little the functionality of the same and the degree of insufficiency of valvular incompetence that they exist.
When do we talk about varicose veins and what types are there?
The way in which we can treat them will depend on the type of varicose veins that we find, they can be small varicose veins, varicose veins, telaniectasias, larger ones could be type venules and the varicose vein itself that would be the truncal varicose vein, which we will find a really dilated vein.
The treatment will then depend on the degree of insufficiency and the caliber of these varicose veins or dilatations. If they are small varicose veins the treatment will go through basically aesthetic parameters that would be to eliminate these small dilatations by sclerosis, either by conventional microsclerosis or microsclerosis with foam. If the veins are larger, we can approach them from a much more drastic and definitive objective, which would be the elimination of the veins and in a more plausible way, accompanied by an increase in the functionalism of the venous return of the extremities through surgeries or strategies that will depend a lot on the surgical training of the surgeon.
How can we treat them?
We can speak from chiva type strategies, in which all the venous capital is preserved and incisions are made according to a previous mapping that has been done by means of a Doppler echo marking.
We can also perform ablative methods either by radiofrequency or laser in which the main insufficient trunk is eliminated, which in this case can be one of the two saphenous veins, either the internal saphenous vein or the external saphenous vein.
We can also approach them from a much more ablative point of view, which would be phleboextraction, which is a stripping technique in which the surgery is more extensive and ablative, but it is nothing more than an elimination of all the dilated venous tissue. It will depend a lot on the surgical training of the team and the patient’s preferences, depending on the technique there will be a general anesthesia or local anesthesia, with or without sedation.
How to distinguish varicose veins from a normal vein?
A varicose vein is nothing more than a dilated vein, the usual veins are practically not seen because they run in the subcutaneous cellular tissue in pre-aponeurotic and subaponeurotic planes of the musculature and when they are dilated is when they become visible. It is nothing more than the dilatation of a vein that in normal physiological situation not dilated we do not see from the point of view of a pure inspection of the limb or where we want to see where this venous dilatation is located.
Why do varicose veins occur?
They occur for several reasons, the main one being the genetic load that exists, that is to say, heredity. It is proven that there is a certain genetic predisposition to develop varicose veins, but then basically in women there is another context, which is the hormonal and gestational type. In the long run, every woman who has been pregnant, has undergone hormonal treatments or has suffered hormonal changes induced by pregnancy, then end up generating varicose veins by weakness of the wall produced by the same hormones produced by the ovaries. For more information you can consult an expert in angiology and vascular surgery.