Question: I have enlarged veins in my right lower leg; I get cramps in my legs at night. I have an ulcer in the skin, which is not healing since many days.
Answer: The enlarged green veins which are prominent in the lower legs are called varicose veins. The term varicose is derived from the Latin word ‘œVarix’, meaning twisted. The normal function of the vein is to carry the impure blood from different parts of the body to the heart.
Vein becomes varicose or tortuous when they become weak, they cannot carry the impure blood to the heart due to the defective valves of the vein, instead the blood flows back and pools in vein to cause congestion and swelling of the vein.
Varicose veins can occur in any part of the body, but they are more common in legs.
Causes of Enlarged Veins in Leg
- Age, it generally occurs in elderly people.
- Standing for long time, there is pooling of blood due to gravity.
- Pregnancy, obesity.
- Menopause. Hormonal changes occurring in the body.
- Heredity.
Signs and Symptom of Enlarged Veins in Legs
- Cramps in the legs, more often they are painful at night. Due to the congestion in the legs as there is no movement.
- Dark color of the skin in the affected site.
- Ulceration of the skin.
- Itching and dermatitis.
- Injuries take more time to heal.
- Rupture of the veins leading to bleeding.
Treatment and Home remedies for varicose veins
- Mixed juice of carrot and spinach is very effective to treat varicose veins.
- Varicose veins are cured by vitamin E oil application, and witch hazel tea.
- Apply fuller’s earth paste. Hot and cold hip baths alternately give good relief to the person suffering from varicose veins. More on cost of laser for thread veins
- Vitamin E and C are important to treat varicose veins.
- Avoid alcohol when suffering from varicose veins.
- Elastocrepe stockings help to compress the vein, and push the blood upwards.
Other conservative treatment is sclerotherapy where a special chemical solution is injected into the affected vein, which makes the vein to collapse and become a scar tissue. In such a case the work of carrying the blood is done by collateral vessels.
Surgical measure
- Laser surgery.
- Stripping of the vein: It is one of the oldest methods used, where the vein is removed by an incision.
- Radio frequency ablation.
Are varicose veins dangerous to the health?
There is no need to panic, but if there is clot formation in the vein, or if the vein is ruptured, you have to treat it urgently.