Three Facts:
Incidence-
Many people suffer from the cosmetic or medical condition known as leg varicose veins. Its been estimated that up to half of the adult population has some degree of vein disease. As you might imagine the incidence of either varicose veins or spider veins increases as a person ages.Often people have a strong family history and as Dr. Lee G. Schulman of the Schulman Vein And Laser Centers Of Long Island And NYC likes to point out, ‘more often then not a woman with enlarged veins has a father who also had them also’.
Pregnancy-
When a woman gets pregnant many things occur which can worsen her veins or even start them on the way to varicosities. There is the obvious weight gain which can be made even more dramatic is there is more then one baby in utero. This gain is even more pronounced towards the end of the pregnancy. There are also hormonal changes that act to ‘loosen’ the pelvis to accommodate a delivery but also may act to ‘loosen’ the vein walls. As there is another structure that will need blood supply to support it, the blood volume also increases as the pregnancy procedes.
Obesity-
Being overweight has numerous medical disadvantages and one of them is the promotion of vein formation in the legs. Just imagine blood that would need to travel from your ankle all the way up to your heart. It’s against gravity, a few feet in distance, has not constant pump to push it, and it has to overcome the weight of the body. While your height and gravity are constants, the greater the weight of a person, the more they need to overcome to get back to the heart. Of course not all heavy individuals have varicose veins and some very skinny people can likewise have very large varicosities.
Our next blog will address a few treatment of varicose veins myths.
Dr. Lee G. Schulman M.D.
Dr. Martin L. Schulman M.D.