Varicose

When someone saw your leg, and asked you, "Why there're blue line at your legs?" than what did you think? You thought "oh, it's nothing, i don't even realize it's there" or "it's varicose, it's cool to have" or "yeah, i've known it for years, I feel my leg become swelling when I walk to office lately" If you see the picture at this left side, what do you think? Have you ever seen this? Do you know what is varicose? I'm sure you have heard it, but how much you know it? Now, I will share my knowledge to you about this thing.

Varicose come from Latin "varix" which means twisted. So, you can imagine now what's exactly happened to your veins. Varicose means veins that become enlarged and or twisted. Actually any veins can become varicose, such as veins in your anal become haemorrhoid, when there's someone suffering from liver cirrhosis, he may be has varicose esophageal veins so that he vomits bloody material. But the commonest varicose can be easily found at women's legs and worse when they're pregnant. Why? Because we walk and stand upright, so that this position make difficulty of flowing back your blood from the lower leg to your heart. Then it seen as blue lines or pipes through your leg. Then, why are they blue? Because they contain deoxygenated blood, which is in the process of being recirculated. I said it can be easily found at women's legs, so, why women? Because women have more Estrogen than men. Some pregnant women develop varicose veins because pregnancy increases the volume of blood in the body, but decreases the flow of blood from legs to pelvis. This circulatory change is designed to support the growing fetus, but it can produce enlarged veins in your legs.

Symptoms not always experienced. But if it is there, you might feel achy or heavy in your legs, and burning, throbbing, muscle cramping and swelling in your lower legs. Prolonged standing or walking tends to make your legs feel worse. You also may fell itching around one or more of your veins. Or you can have skin ulcers near your ankle, which represent a severe form of vascular disease and require immediate attention.

Causes of varicose veins still unknown. To flow blood to your heart, the veins in your legs must work against gravity. Muscles contractions in your lower legs act as pumps, while toned, elastic vein walls help blood return to your heart. Tiny one way valves in your veins open as blood flows toward your heart then close to stop blood from flowing backward. As you get older your veins can lose elasticity, causing them to stretch. The valves in your veins may become weak, allowing blood that should be moving toward your heart to flow backward. Blood pools in your veins, and your veins enlarge and become varicose.

Who Can Get Varicose Veins?

• We can, when we ages. Aging causes wear and tear on the valves in your veins that help regulate blood flow. Eventually, that wear causes the valves to dysfunction.
• Women are more likely than men to develop the condition. Hormonal changes during pregnancy, premenstruation or menopause may be a factor. Female hormones tend to relax vein walls.
• Taking hormone replacement therapy or birth control pills may increase your risk of varicose veins.
• If other family members had varicose veins, there's a greater chance you will too.
• Overweight puts added pressure on your veins. Standing for long periods of time. Your blood doesn't flow as well if you're in the same position for long periods.

What Should I Do ?
You should go to see your doctor, you should run tests, you should be treated.
Usually your doctor will perform a series of tests to you, maybe he/she will examine using ultrasound for searching bot clots or is there any abnormality of your valves.

Treatment depends on what stage do your varicose veins.

picture above shows us (left) severe varicose veins , and (right) varicose ulcer

• Sclerotherapy. It perform when your varicose not like the picture above. Then your doctor injects small and medium sized varicose veins with a solution that scars and closes those veins. In a few weeks, treated varicose veins should fade. Although the same vein may need to be injected more than once, sclerotherapy is effective if done correctly. Sclerotherapy doesn't require anesthesia and can be done in your doctor's office.
• Laser surgeries. Doctors are using new technology in laser treatments to close off smaller varicose veins and spider veins. Laser surgery works by sending strong bursts of light onto the vein, which makes the vein slowly fade and disappear. No incisions or needles are used.
• Catheter-assisted procedures. Your doctor inserts a thin tube (catheter) into an enlarged vein and heats the tip of the catheter. As the catheter is pulled out, the heat destroys the vein by causing it to collapse and seal shut. This procedure is usually done for severe varicose veins.
• Vein stripping. This is an old procedure which involves removing a long vein through small incisions. This is an outpatient procedure for most people. Removing the vein won't affect circulation in your leg because veins deeper in the leg take care of the larger volumes of blood.
• Endoscopic vein surgery. You might need this operation only in an advanced case involving leg ulcers. Your surgeon uses a thin video camera inserted in your leg to visualize and close varicose veins, and then removes the veins through small incisions.

What Should I Do, If Don't Have Varicose, and I Don't Want it Appear in my legs?
You know, to be frankly, if you have the risk factor, surely you can get varicose veins easier than other. But you still have chance to reduce your risk to get the varicose veins. How?

• Use compression stocking, this thing presses your superficial veins, so they're not getting enlarged and helps veins and leg muscles move blood more efficiently
• Avoid hi heels, low heels make your calf muscles work more
  
• Exercise, you should make your blood circulation in good condition
• Avoid stand or walk in long period, when it a must, u have to elevate your leg, helping your blood flow to your heart in a while
• Don't sit with your leg crossed, this can block your blood flow to your heart
• And watch your weight, as you know, like I said above, when your weight is over, there's unnecessary pressure off your veins. Then you also have to eat low-salt and high-fiber diet to prevent the swelling that may result from water retention and constipation