Your Vein Disease

Spider veins are those fine red or blue veins visible on the skin surface and generally are less than 1 mm in diameter while reticular veins are those blue veins just below or on the skin surface that are 1 to 3 mm in diameter. These veins, while unsightly, do not generally cause any significant medical issues. Insurances in general do not pay for the treatment of these types of veins. Spider veins and reticular veins are easily treated with either injections of the sclerotherapy agents or by use of a surface laser. Jerica Wills, CRNP, performs these procedures and will discuss the options with you to make sure you get the treatment option that best suits you.

Varicose veins are also dilated vessels, but are usually more uncomfortable and harmful to your health than spider veins. In general, veins are responsible for pushing blood against gravity back to the heart and lungs. But with varicose veins, the blood flow from the legs back to the heart is diminished by 15-20%, making these veins a burden to your circulation.
The actual cause of varicose veins is inefficient, faulty vein valves. These valves don’t close properly, allowing blood to leak back with gravity and pool in the vein. This causes the veins to bulge and stretch and result in many unpleasant side effects such as:

• Aching & Throbbing Pain
• Itching
• Numbness
• Heavy & Tired Legs
• Poor Circulation
• Night Cramps
• Restless Leg Syndrome

Heredity is a primary factor in over 80% of varicose vein cases. Other contributing factors may include pregnancy, obesity, hormone therapy, standing or sitting for long periods of time and injury. The best way to treat this disease is to destroy the diseased veins. This forces the blood to travel through the many remaining healthy veins restoring more normal blood return to the heart. Diseased veins are not functioning correctly and serve no purpose left in the body.  In fact, you are at more risk for complications by not treating these veins in years to come. Varicose veins are diagnosed by ultrasound which determines the appropriate treatment plan for you.

A venous skin ulcer is a shallow wound that occurs when the leg veins don’t return blood back toward the heart the way they should. This is called venous insufficiency. These ulcers usually form on the sides of the lower leg, above the ankle and below the calf. Venous skin ulcers are slow to heal and often come back if you don’t take steps to prevent them. A venous skin ulcer is also called a stasis leg ulcer. Venous skin ulcers are caused by poor blood circulation from the legs, such as from venous insufficiency.

Phlebitis is due to blood clots in the superficial veins. The symptoms and signs of phlebitis can include hot, red skin and tenderness. Lumpy veins in the legs – are due to blood clots in the veins just under the surface. These clots cause the vein and surrounding tissues to become inflamed. It has now been shown, by studies in America and the UK, that phlebitis in the veins in the legs can give rise to clots that travel to the lungs. These clots are called pulmonary emboli (PE’s) and they can be life threatening.

Most patients with Phlebitis are not at risk of PE’s. However, without an ultrasound duplex scan, it is impossible to tell which patients with Phlebitis are at risk and which patients are not. Anticoagulation (i.e. Xarelto) if the clot is within 5 cm of the deep veins or aspirin and medical compression stockings if the clot is more than 5 cm from deep veins are the treatments dictated by scan results.

Spider veins are those fine red or blue veins visible on the skin surface and generally are less than 1 mm in diameter while reticular veins are those blue veins just below or on the skin surface that are 1 to 3 mm in diameter. These veins, while unsightly, do not generally cause any significant medical issues. Insurances in general do not pay for the treatment of these types of veins. Spider veins and reticular veins are easily treated with either injections of the sclerotherapy agents or by use of a surface laser. Justine M. Roberts, PA-C, performs these procedures and will discuss the options with you to make sure you get the treatment option that best suits you.