A Washington DC Metro Area Vein Clinic Explains That Varicose Veins May Be Commonplace, But They’re Not “Just a Cosmetic Concern”

In our experience providing varicose vein treatment options in Washington DC, we have learned that most of our new patients come to us burdened with two common misunderstandings – how commonplace varicose veins are, and how dangerous they are. Because these patients invariably have to overcome these incorrect beliefs before they can fully benefit from treatment, we thought we’d deal with these two misunderstanding in this article aimed at the general public.

First, varicose veins are much more commonplace than you think

If you have varicose veins, you can possibly understand why people think they aren’t as common as they really are. How many times have you looked at your legs in the mirror, seen the swollen, discolored veins there, and reached instinctively for your long pants or darkest stockings to cover them up? Well, millions of other people do exactly the same thing, hiding their conditions, but at the same time giving the false impression that varicose veins are rare.

They aren’t. 40% of women over 50 and 20% of women under 40 have varicose veins, and that’s just the women – 20% of men over 50 have varicose veins, too. And while it is true that for hormonal reasons older women have varicose veins more often than younger women, a surprising number of people in their twenties or thirties develop varicose veins, too, especially after having been pregnant or if their jobs require them to stand or sit most of the day with no other exercise.

Second, varicose veins are also much more dangerous than you think

The widespread belief that varicose veins aren’t to be taken seriously and that you can easily “live with them” just by keeping your legs covered and pretending they aren’t there is dangerously false. While varicose veins are rarely considered medically dangerous in themselves, the disease that causes them (chronic venous insufficiency, or CVI) is very much a real disease that causes impairment to your circulatory and immune systems. The swollen veins that you see on the surface of your skin mean that your veins are not working properly beneath the surface, and this affects many aspects of your overall health.

Left untreated, varicose veins DON’T go away, or “get better on their own.” They get worse. The first symptoms will likely be that your legs feel tired and weak all the time, often so much that you can no longer stand or walk easily. Next, your legs and ankles can become painfully swollen, again reducing your mobility. If you continue to ignore the growing list of symptoms, soon varicose veins can become infected, causing the skin that covers them to become tough, leathery, and prone to injuries that can literally leave your legs covered with open sores and bleeding leg ulcers that refuse to heal. And all of these symptoms still aren’t the worst part of the dangers of varicose veins – left untreated, they so radically impair your immune system that your risk for developing more serious diseases like heart attack, stroke, and diabetes increases tremendously.

So what should you do if you have varicose veins?

You should seek vein treatment from one of the best vein centers in Washington DC. The many advances made in medicine in recent decades has made it possible for Washington DC vein specialists to detect vein diseases in less than an hour, by performing a painless, non-invasive venous health screening. If this screening reveals that you have vein diseases such as varicose veins or CVI, these conditions can be eliminated almost as quickly, using painless, minimally-invasive treatments that are so safe that they can be performed in the comfort of your Washington DC metro area vein clinic. If the screening reveals that you don’t have vein disease yet but are at high risk of developing it because of genetic or lifestyle issues, the doctors at Cardiac Associates, P.C. can help you prevent it from developing, and help you to stay healthy. So give us a call today and set up an appointment for your own venous health screening.