Vein care: Helping you feel and look your best

Venous disease is quite common and mild venous disease is usually not a problem. As venous disease worsens, it can become a crippling chronic problem.  

With normal circulation, arteries carry oxygen rich blood from your heart to the body, and veins return the blood to your heart. Veins have one-way valves along their length to keep the blood flowing to the heart. As muscles contract, the blood is squeezed forward in the veins. When muscles relax, the valves shut to prevent blood from flowing backward.

If the vein walls become weak or damaged, or if the valves are stretched or injured, the system stops working normally and the blood begins to flow backward when the muscles relax. This creates unusually high pressure in the veins, resulting in even more stretching, twisting and swelling of veins. The abnormal veins with their sluggish blood flow create disorders known as venous disease.

Venous disease includes:

• Spider veins

• Varicose veins

• Leg swelling and pain

• Chronic venous insufficiency

• Leg skin changes

• Leg ulcers

• Phlebitis

• Vascular Malformations

• Venous Malformations

Our team is made up of:

• Vascular surgeons

• Physician assistants

Including:

• Pain or aching discomfort in the legs

• Heaviness or a tired feeling in the legs

• Tenderness over the dilated veins

• Itching

• Swelling

• Dermatitis over the lower leg (a red itchy rash)

• Dark pigmentation of the skin

• Ulceration (sores that don’t heal)

• Bleeding from veins close to the skin

• Phlebitis (hard, tender, reddened vein)

Symptoms usually become worse at the end of the day, or after standing or sitting for long periods. Some women notice that the symptoms are worse during the days before their menstrual cycle. The discomfort may be improved with elevation of the legs.

Diagnosis

Varicose veins are easy to see on most people. When a better look is needed, a painless ultrasound is performed in the office. The ultrasound can detect direction of flow in the veins, evaluate valve function, examine the size of feeding veins under the skin too deep to see on inspection and find signs of blood clots. This will allow us to create a treatment plan.