Varicose veins : Medical introduction

What are varicose veins? 

Well you don't need to be medically trained, you don't need to be a doctor, to look at your leg or somebody else's leg and know that there's something wrong with the veins.  So, for example, this person has a cluster of spider veins at the back of the leg with varicose lumpy veins to the side and medically they are abnormally large, they are wider and bigger than they should be, they are obviously twisty and they have a condition in them called reflux. 

Veins should be carrying blood up the leg back from the foot to the heart - if the little folds in the lining are not meeting properly and gravity is pulling blood down in the wrong direction then we give this the term 'vein reflux', and the underlying problem with these thread veins and these spider veins is that the direction of flow is wrong, the valves are not working properly and blood is coming down in the wrong direction, that's the medical underlying problem.

What causes varicose veins? 

Well, top of the list is heredity.  Unfortunately you can pick your friends but you can't pick your parents and most cases of vein problems are inherited or have a genetic basis.  It's been estimated that if both your parents have a vein problem,then you unfortunately have an 80% chance of developing a vein problem yourself.  It's not inevitable, but it's a high risk if you have a strong family history.  Other thing son this list don't actually cause varicose veins but they contribute, so if you've inherited a weakness of your veins and you have an underlying problem, often veins will appear for the first time during pregnancy because of the added strain on the vein circulation.

 It doesn't actually cause it but it's another risk factor which declares itself if you have an underlying problem and all these other things contribute. Having said that we know lots of people, don't we, who have had lots of children, who are possibly overweight and don't have a particularly healthy lifestyle - not a blemish on their legs, doesn't seem fair does it really but equally there are many young men who are quite athletic and very fit, obviously they've never had any children themselves, and they've got dreadful varicose veins so it does appear that heredity is the main risk factor.

What causes thread veins? 

Well, I've already mentioned that reflux is the underlying problem so it's not a surprise really, is it, that top of the list is heredity.  Again many people have not a blemish on their leg because they've inherited good veins from their parents. 

Others,unfortunately, haven't had any children, not overweight, very healthy and they're covered in spider veins and thread veins.  The underlying problem is a weakness of the veins and it's a problem called reflux, so heredity tops the list.  All these others are contributing or risk factors, they don't actually cause them, however I would say that reflux, which also causes varicose veins, varicose veins are often associated with thread veins.