You love to have tanned beautiful legs and nice pedicure and to wear short skirts and dresses. Still, something is bothering you. Lately, on your legs appeared some blue greenish enlarged and convoluted veins. Above all, Varicose veins are a matter of health and not beauty, because they indicate blood circulation problems.
Even if some people consider that varicose veins appear only at old people, many young men and women (especially those who gave birth) suffer from varicose veins. In fact, this disease is frequently met at women than men. And they became painful during period.
Varicose veins are greenish swollen veins enlarged and twisted, which are more or less painful. They appear on legs and they are different from their veins because they contain a bigger amount of blood.
Causes
Arteries assure blood circulation from the heart to the lower extremities and veins bring it back oxygenated to the heart. 
All veins may be varicose but often they appear on legs because the veins from the leg make a huge effort to push the blood up to the heart, against gravitational attraction.
People, who have varicose veins, suffer from a chronic venous insufficiency. This means that their leg veins cannot pump enough blood back to their heart. Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) may be associated with varicose veins. Your legs may also feel heavy, tired, swollen.
Complications
Large varicose veins can lead to skin changes like rashes, varicose ulcer or dermatitis. If the deep veins are affected too, your legs will retain water. In this case, there’s a risk of forming blood clots that may obdurate the swollen vein. Because a bad blood circulation facilitates the coagulation of blood, varicose veins may degenerate into thrombophlebitis (thrombophlebitis is phlebitis (vein inflammation) related to a blood clot or thrombus).
Types of varicose veins
In 95% of the cases, varices are the result of some risk factors: family history of varicose veins, being overweight, being pregnant. They affect the superficial veins.
In other cases, varicose veins are connected to a health problem: phlebitis. Phlebitis occurs when a superficial or deep vein becomes swollen and inflamed. This inflammation causes a blood clot to form, that blocks the pumping of the blood to the heart. The first affected are the deep veins and then the superficial veins.
Why women?
Women suffer from varicose veins more than men do, maybe because of their hormonal changes during pregnancy, period and menopause. All these reduce the oxygen level in the blood. Contraceptive pills provoke varicose veins and that’s why they are forbidden to women who already have varicose veins.
Pregnant women may have varicose veins because the vein walls lose their elasticity due to the weight of the baby. The womb compresses the veins on the abdomen and this slows down blood circulation. Usually, varicose veins appeared during pregnancy disappear in three months after birth. You risk having varicose veins if you have a standing occupation.
Risk factors:
* Obesity;
* Prolonged standing or sitting;
* Not working out;
* Heat exposure;
* Hot baths;
* Lifting heavyweights;
* Contraceptive pills.
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