Venous Disease

Venous Disease occurs when you have a medical problem resulting from unhealthy veins. Venous Disease becomes a medical problem when it causes leg discomfort and other Medical symptoms. Varicose veins result from the overflow and are a physical manifestation of unhealthy veins / Venous Disease.  Of note, most varicose veins are under the skin and you can’t see them! What are Varicose Veins and reflux?

Overall facts – Venous Disease gets worse with age and affects 80 million Americans. About 20 % of the adults have Varicose veins. The number one contributing cause is genetics / hereditary and more than half have a family history of them. Women are affected three times more than men because of pregnancy and female hormones.

What causes Venous Disease and Varicose Veins? Normally, veins return the blood to the heart via uphill flow using Normal valves which act like one way double doors.  If the veins walls are weak and the vein has weak or Abnormal valves, the vein permanently loose its ability to carry blood against gravity from the legs back up to the heart, and blood flows downhill toward the feet (reflux) instead of uphill towards the heart. With downhill flow (reflux) the blood pools in the legs stretching, dilating, enlarging and twisting the leg veins. With time, this process can cause the Medical symptoms and What are Varicose Veins and reflux?

Which veins are unhealthy? In the leg there are two distinct vein systems. One is the superficial vein system which lies just beneath the skin but usually can’t be seen from the surface. Usually, problematic veins begin in the superficial system. The two main veins in the superficial system are the great saphenous vein and the small saphenous vein. Most of the problems from Venous Disease result from reflux in these saphenous veins.  The second vein system in the leg is the important deep vein system. The deep vein system is located deep within the muscles. The deep veins carry most of the blood from the leg back to the heart.