Varicose Vein Treatment for the Elderly

Updated on: August 18, 2014

As a person ages, their legs start giving them trouble. This can be for a variety of different reasons, the first of which being arthritis. There are two main kinds of arthritis – regular arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. The latter is the more serious of the two, and involves inflamed joints that can actually be very debilitating.

Another thing that the elderly start suffering from is varicose veins, which sometimes require varicose vein treatment. In order to understand what these kinds of veins are, it is important to first understand the causes of them. Usually, it is women, and not men who require varicose vein treatment. This is because one of the main sources of these kinds of veins is multiple pregnancies.

When a woman is pregnant, one of the first things that her obstetrician tells her is that she should wear the proper footwear. This is because the pressure put on the legs and the feet from the added weight gain can obstruct the natural circulatory flow. The legs are a network of veins that carry blood to and from the heart.

When pressure is put on those veins, the blood cannot get through the veins, and so the veins end up swelling beyond their capacity in order to try to force the blood through. The result is varicose veins that are instantly recognizable because of their large, puffy, dark green, blue, or purple appearance.

Varicose vein treatment can be done for two main reasons, the first reason being cosmetics. These kinds of veins are very hard to cover up unless a woman would like to wear dark-colored nylons all the time. Even then, their swollen appearance makes them noticeable. So, in this case, the veins might not be much of a problem physically, but definitely a problem for fashion lovers and the beauty-conscious, no matter what their age.

Varicose vein treatment is necessary for people who have a history of circulatory problems, which could, or could not have been caused by the condition of the veins themselves. One way to tell if the veins are more of a medical than cosmetic issue is because of a rash that might occur around the vein itself. If this rash is not attended to promptly, it could ulcerate, and an infection could further do damage to the vein.

Then, of course, there is the issue of stiffness. The elderly often suffer from stiff legs not just because of arthritis. Sometimes the veins themselves could be the cause, because they have an excess amount of blood that has pooled within them. This blood has a tendency to coagulate, which could cause clots.

All of this having been said, there are two main ways that these kinds of veins can be treated. The first way is in the form of medicinal injections, which would be put directly into the vein. The goal of these injections is to stimulate the blood flow, thus collapsing the vein back to its original size. The other form of treatment is in the form of laser therapy, which is meant to strengthen the veins and improve blood flow within a few weeks.

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