Everyone has a lot of troubles. Some of them may be huge and life threatening, while others are small and non-fatal. Whether or not people die because of them, they are problems all the same, and problems should have solutions. The good thing about this day and age is that no matter how small an item may seem, it most likely would have a solution already. If not, at least a person or institution would already be working hard to find a remedy.
Take for example spider veins on legs, which some people consider as a minor problem in life. Only a very small percentage of affected people actually need medical help due to this condition, but it is given much attention because it still is a situation that demands a solution, and it could be an indicator of an even bigger problem.
Spider veins, known medically as Telangiectasia or angioectasias, are swollen veins that can be seen through the skin. They are commonly seen around the face, but a lot of people also have these on the legs. The main reason behind their appearance is due to the fact that the job of the vein is hard enough as it is: they need to go against gravity in order to bring blood from the extremities of the body back to the heart in order to be re-oxygenated. Veins have valves in order to stop blood from moving back to where they came from, and when these valves don’t function normally, the blood would usually pool in a certain part of the body, and this pooling would result in spider veins.
Although it is said that genetics has a huge portion to play in the appearance of spider veins, studies also show that the following factors can also affect the appearance of spider veins on legs:
- Increasing age
- Hormonal changes
- Pregnancy
- Obesity
- Lack of Movement
- Exposure to the sun
Spider veins on legs don’t usually injure anything more than a person’s pride. This happens because anyone with spider veins on their legs would not want to expose these areas, and would wear nothing else but long clothing. There are times though when these come with throbbing and a certain degree of discomfort. If untreated, this could continue to become a lot worse and result in sores, skin ulcers and even the formation of blood clots within the vein. The last one can prove to be fatal to anyone should the clot suddenly wander off to other portions of the body.
Thankfully, there is more than one treatment for this. The most common one is called sclerotherapy, which involves the use of a syringe and tiny needles. These are used to inject a solution into the veins that would cause the blood vessels to collapse and eventually fade from view. The loss of the veins would not be harmful, as there are blood vessels deeper in the leg that would compensate for the lost pathways of the blood.
Another option would be the laser treatment. These are used for smaller blood vessels that cannot be reached by needles. Light is focused on the veins, and the heat would make the veins collapse and eventually fade. Though bruising is often seen after treatment, this fades as well after some time.
The treatments for spider veins on legs have been around for a while, and improvements have been done to make them both safer, faster and available to the general public. Now all one has to do is choose to take the treatment, and the problem will be solved.