When should I be concerned about varicose veins? How is varicose veins treated?
Varicose Veins The presence of varicose veins is obvious to the person who has them. The single most important factor that determines whether or not one gets them is the family background. A tendency toward varicose veins is apparently inherited. Understand that the veins you see and feel as varicose are normally present; in the diseased state they become more prominent, conspicuous, tortuous and distended because the blood in them flows backward. Varicose veins result from diseased, improperly functioning valves in the large leg veins. Instead of keeping the blood flow from the legs going toward the heart, they allow the blood to pool back into the leg. Thus, normal veins become increasingly prominent by backflow distention. The process simulates closing off the nozzle of a garden hose while the faucet continues open; the hose becomes distended and wiggly and can even start to leak in weak spots. What do you mean that these red and blue spidery streaks are not ordinary vari...