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Varicose veins

Condition Overview:

Varicose veins are abnormally enlarged superficial veins in the legs.

The precise cause of varicoseveins is unknown, but the main problem is probably a weakness in the walls of superficial veins. This weakness may be inherited. Over time, the weakness causes theveins to lose their elasticity. They stretch and become longer and wider. To fit in the same space that they occupied when they were normal, the elongated veins become convoluted. They may appear as a snakelike bulge beneath the skin.Varicose veins often develop during pregnancy and resolve shortly after childbirth.More important than the elongation is the widening of the veins, which causes the valve cusps to separate. When the person stands, the blood is pulled backward by gravity and is not stopped because the valve cusps are separated. Thus, blood flows backward, rapidly filling theveins. The backward flow of blood causes the thin-walled, convoluted veins to enlarge even more. Some of the connecting veins, which normally allow blood to flow only from the superficial veins into the deep veins, also enlarge. If they enlarge, their valve cusps also separate. Consequently, blood squirts backward into the superficial veins when the muscles squeeze the deep veins, causing the superficial veins to stretch further.

Many people with varicoseveins also have spider veins, which are enlarged capillaries. Spider veins may be caused by the pressure from blood in varicose veins, but the cause is generally thought to be hormonal factors that are not yet understood. A hormonal cause would explain why spider veins most commonly occur in women, particularly during pregnancy.

Varicose veins can usually be seen. In cases where varicose veins are suspected, but can not be seen, a physician may frequently detect them by palpation (pressing with the fingers). X rays or ultrasound tests can detect varicose veins in the deep and perforator veins and rule out blood clots in the deep veins.