Leg Pain After Exercise: What Does It Mean?
There’s soreness, there’s injury, and then there’s pain due to an underlying health problem. This blog dissects the common causes of post-exercise leg pain to help you know when and where to get help.
Are Spider Veins Dangerous?
When your once-clear skin starts to sport blue and purple zigzags, it’s reasonable to have some concerns.
You feel fine, but you can’t help wondering if you have a dangerous underlying condition that’s caused your veins to become visible.
The good news is that spider veins are easy to diagnose and treat — and you likely don’t have to worry about your overall health.
Our team at Advanced Vascular Solutions is here to answer your questions and calm your fears with our years of experience dealing with spider veins.
Spider veins: The origin story
Although spider veins aren’t usually a medical problem, they do indicate an underlying issue in your vascular system, which comprises vessels that carry blood away from (arteries) and toward (veins) your heart.
Though they carry the same amount of blood to and from the same places, your veins work much harder because they have to push your blood upward against the force of gravity. To keep everything moving in the right direction, your veins have valves that open and close with every heartbeat.
This is where spider veins begin.
Anytime the valves in your veins become weak or fail, your blood pools, and your veins become visible. The most common causes of weak valves include:
- Hormonal changes
- Aging
- Excess weight
- Pressure from prolonged standing
- Tight restrictive clothing
- Family history of spider veins
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Sitting with your legs crossed
- Excessive exposure to the sun
Even pregnancy can put extra stress on your veins and damage the valves.
Knowing when spider veins are a problem
Even though spider veins are rarely a health threat, in severe cases of untreated varicose veins (spider veins’ larger cousin), you can you develop a blood clot.
But that doesn't mean you should ignore spider veins.
When you come to us with spider veins, we conduct a thorough evaluation to understand exactly what’s caused the problem.
We may conduct diagnostic tests like an ultrasound to uncover underlying vascular conditions, such as venous insufficiency.
Venous insufficiency isn’t necessarily a serious health problem, either, but it's usually chronic and progressive unless you seek treatment. With early intervention, you can improve your circulation and reverse the effects of venous insufficiency.
Depending on the cause of your spider veins, we create a customized treatment plan to fit your needs.
Your treatment options
In some cases, spider veins respond well to conservative treatments and lifestyle changes, including:
- Wearing compression stockings
- Exercising more often
- Elevating your legs when sitting or lying down
- Avoiding standing for long periods
These strategies can also help you avoid spider veins in the future. But if you want to clear your skin completely, you must see us for treatment.
We offer a variety of minimally invasive treatments that close off your defective veins and gradually clear your skin.
Your treatment plan may include Venaseal™, sclerotherapy, or radiofrequency ablation. Most of our patients need more than one treatment to get their desired results, but over time, you’ll notice that your skin gradually clears up as your body processes and removes the veins we’ve treated.
Spider veins can be embarrassing and frustrating, but they don’t have to be forever. If you’d like to see one of our experts and start discussing which treatments are right for you, contact Advanced Vascular Solutions online or over the phone today. We serve patients in the Melbourne and Sebastian, Florida, area.
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