A Louisiana Vein Doctor Explains 10 Things You Should Know About Veins

On this website, Dr. Randall S. Juleff and his associates at our vein clinic in Covington write about veins a lot. Vein disease and its treatment is, after all, our primary medical specialty, and we write about it to educate the general public. Today, rather than focusing on a particular vein disease and how we diagnose or treat it, we'd like to step back and talk about veins, period. What exactly are they? How do they work? When we say that they have become diseased or damaged, how is that possible? How do we fix it?

10 facts about veins that all Louisiana residents should know

1. Veins are an important component of your circulatory system. While the job of arteries is to convey blood and nutrients from the heart and lungs to your organs and extremities, it is the job of your veins to convey deoxygenated blood and waste materials back to the heart and lungs for renewal.

2. Arteries have their own internal muscles with which to pump blood, but veins do not. Instead, they rely on the contraction of muscles in your arms and legs to provide the pumping action. Blood is kept flowing in one direction (towards the heart) by a series of tiny valves that open to allow blood to flow through, but then (in a healthy system) close again to keep it from flowing backwards.

3. If the tiny valves in your veins become damaged due to disease or accident, they can become "leaky" and allow blood to flow back into your veins and pool there. This is called venous reflux or chronic venous insufficiency (CVI).

4. If your venous valves have been damaged by CVI, blood will continue to flow back into the veins of your legs and ankles and collect there, and the veins will become varicose. This means that they will become swollen and discolored and may become visible on the surface of the skin.

5. More important, veins that have become varicose impair your overall circulation, which can result in painfully swollen legs and ankles and constant feelings of weakness and tiredness in the legs. Left untreated, these varicose veins may cause changes to the texture of the skin on your legs, and may become infected and covered with open, bleeding sores called leg ulcers.

6. Untreated varicose veins can impair your circulation so much that it begins to affect your overall immune system, and increase your risk of obesity, diabetes, heart attack, and stroke. So if you have varicose veins, you should call your Covington varicose vein doctor immediately for a checkup.

7. Once venous valves have been damaged by CVI, they cannot be repaired or "fixed." Side effects can be minimized by wearing compression stockings to increase circulation, but the only permanent way to treat varicose veins is to close them using sclerotherapy, phlebectomy, or endovenous laser therapy.

8. If diseased veins are closed by your Louisiana vein doctor, the negative symptoms and side effects go away, because the underlying vein disease has gone away. The closed veins are absorbed into neighboring tissue, and blood circulation automatically is routed through healthier veins in the area.

9. Another condition that affects veins is deep vein thrombosis (DVT), in which blood clots begin to form in your veins. These clots block blood flow and impair circulation, but their real danger is that they can travel to the lungs or brain, causing potentially fatal complications. 300,000 Americans die every year from pulmonary embolisms or strokes caused by DVT. DVT can also be easily treated using modern methods, removing the clots and restoring health.

10. The only way you can be really sure that you have or don't have vein disease is to have a venous health screening. These screenings are painless and non-invasive, and take only about an hour.

So how do you find out more about veins and vein disease?

You can spend some time looking over other informative articles we have placed on our website at https://www.labellavitavein.com/, or you could just give our New Orleans vein clinic a call at 985-892-2950, and talk to us in person.

Author Bio: A Louisiana vein doctor and New Orleans Vein Treatment doctor discusses veins, and presents the 10 facts everyone should know about them.