Varicose Veins FAQ

What are varicose veins?
Varicose veins are enlarged veins that get that way as a result of faulty valves within the vein. This can lead to venous reflux or venous insufficiency. These valves are important because they help the body pump blood back to the heart. If the valves fail, blood return out of the leg is hampered. This means that the blood in these veins tends to flow where gravity tells it to flow. This can cause the veins to become dilated and painful. In addition, the venous circulation (blood returning to the heart) is ineffective and there is a recirculation of this blood. This blood contains many waste products of metabolism and has a relatively low oxygen content. It is known that this recirculation phenomenon can also lead to symptoms associated with varicose veins. The most common symptoms include burning, itching, tingling, fatigue, heaviness, cramping, aching, swelling, edema, and restlessness. Left untreated, symptomatic varicose veins can progress to more serious medical conditions including skin inflammation, skin ulcer, venous inflammation, and venous blood clots.

What causes varicose veins?
Heredity is the number one factor causing varicose veins. You are twice as likely to have venous reflux (disease of the vein valves) if one of your parents had the condition. An inherited weakness of the vein wall and vein valves can cause enlargement and dilation of normal veins. Eventually they become the large and symptomatic varicose veins. Women are more likely to suffer from varicose veins. In fact women tend to have the disease at least twice as often as men. Men are not spared from the disease, in fact about 25% of men between the ages of 40-49 have the disease. Other factors in women such as pregnancy and hormonal factors can also worsen the condition. In addition to family history and female gender, other aggravating factors predisposing to development of varicose veins include advancing age, obesity, trauma, intense weight-training exercise, and occupations involving prolonged sitting or standing.

Wouldn't closing varicose veins just redirect flow into normal veins and make them also become varicose?
Since varicose veins have abnormal blood flow, the surrounding veins are already being burdened by having to compensate. Treatment of abnormal veins actually removes this burden from the surrounding veins, thereby improving the venous circulation. This improvement in the venous circulation accounts for the improvement in varicose vein symptoms following effective varicose vein treatment. This is because the body redirects the blood flow into stronger, healthier, deeper veins within the legs.

Does your body need all of its veins?
Basically these veins are abnormal and diseased. The symptoms of venous insufficiency are caused by the diseased veins. By treating the disease, the symptoms disappear.

What happens if I need bypass surgery in the future, and the saphenous vein has been removed?
By definition, these veins are diseased and would not be used for any sort of bypass anyway. Other veins or grafts would have to be used even if the diseased vein was still present.

Does my insurance cover the treatment?
In the majority of cases the answer is yes. Venous insufficiency is recognized as a disease. As the treatments have improved and our knowledge of the disease has improved, insurance companies are willing to pay for these low risk, very successful treatments.