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Article May 2005
Why do I get Varicose Veins?
This is the second in a series of articles by Mark Whiteley of The Whiteley Clinic explaining about Varicose Veins and the treatments available for them.
In this article he explains why varicose veins appear. Veins in the legs pump blood back to the heart. To do this against gravity they need two things - the muscle to do the pumping and valves to make sure the blood moves up the leg. If the valves fail, the blood falls back down the leg.
In 1 in 4 to 1 in 5 of the population, the valves fail in the superficial veins. The blood falling back down the veins hits the tissue at the ankle and causes inflammation around the veins. If this is allowed to continue, the inflammation slowly spreads, damaging all of the tissue right out to the skin. This is the causes itching, venous eczema, skin discoloration and eventually ulcers.
The body tries to protect the skin by allowing the veins above this area to dilate. The blood falling down the leg gets "trapped" here and so the energy is dissipated in the Varicosities - not in the tissues around the ankles. This is exactly how a silencer on a car exhaust works.
Therefore, the varicose veins are NOT the problem - they are showing you there is an underlying problem that they are trying to resolve.
If you missed the last article in this series, you can find it on www.treatment-for-varicose-veins.co.uk.
