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Varicosity: Causes
Last reviewed: 19.11.2021
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Varicosis is considered a disease of hairdressers, teachers, office workers - people who give their legs a high load. Varicose veins in a quarter of the world's population - that's how far he stretched his paws. How to determine that varicose veins have already begun and take the necessary measures to treat it? What is the prevention of varicose veins?
What is varicose veins?
In Latin it means "node" - varix. And the truth, with chronic development of varicose veins, if you do not heal for a long time and do not take care of your legs, you can see the swollen veins in the nodules. This means that blood flow is disturbed in them.
Varicose veins are caused by the weakness of their walls and increased blood pressure. Vein dilatation occurs over the valves of the veins, so they have nodules in places where blood accumulates more. The venous circulation is disrupted due to disruption in the functioning of the veins system, their pathologies, or as a result of general body disorders.
Why and how are thrombi in the veins formed
Blood clots in the veins - this is a complication after the Poven are expanding, this is a consequence of the diagnosis of "varicose veins". Blood clots in the veins of a person gets 5-6 times more often than thrombi in the arteries. The person receives thrombi in the veins of the legs 3-4 times more often than the blood clots in the arteries of the hands. Why is this happening? We already know that blood moves along the vessels at an uneven speed. In the center of the artery, its largest particles, erythrocytes, move, and they move at the highest speed. And at the ends of the arteries, smaller particles move, and at a lower speed. This feature plays a very important role in the formation of thrombi.
When the venous and arterial blood break their course, the blood flow velocity becomes slower. Blood acquires a viscosity, from this it slows down its run even more. All blood cells - erythrocytes, platelets, leukocytes do not run separately, as it was before, but come together, why the composition of the blood is disturbed. If the erythrocytes accumulated a lot, there are blockages of veins.
Blood clots in the veins
Platelets perform an even more sinister role than erythrocytes - accumulating, they form a blood clot from fibrin protein. It is attached to the wall of the vein, but not completely the part of the thrombus remains in the cavity of the vessel, not allowing blood to pass through it freely. Gradually the enlarged veins become inflamed with the clots that are in them. And then doctors diagnose the disease - thrombophlebitis.
If bacteria enter the blood clot - thrombus, the thrombus can start to fester, because of pus it breaks up. And with the bloodstream, this infectious formation can spread all over the circulatory system, infecting the entire body. For life it is very dangerous. And if a thrombus breaks off the vein wall, it rushes all over the bloodstream. This is a life-threatening condition, because it can result in a heart attack or stroke.
If the thrombus enters the artery, which leads to the lungs, this artery is clogged, oxygen does not enter the lungs and the person instantly dies.
[How does vein dysfunction develop?
What happens as a result of varicose veins? Let's turn to anatomy. When blood passes through internal organs, it gives them nutrients, and also saturates them with oxygen. In response, internal organs give blood products of metabolism - toxins. Such an exchange mainly takes place in capillaries - small blood vessels, narrow and thin. Then the blood enters the venules (these are the wreaths, the tiniest ones), and from them - into large deep veins with a decent diameter.
Blood by the vessels moves through the heart. Therefore, it is called a motor, a pump, the most vital organ. From the heart, blood flows through the arteries to the legs, this can be easily understood, since the blood flows from the top down. But how does the blood circulate from the legs to the heart, that is, downwards? The secret is simple: thanks to venous and arterial pressure.
When the arteries begin to pulsate, the muscles of the lower leg and thighs contract. From these contractions, there arises pressure in the arteries (blood pressure), blood from the lower leg to the deep veins rises to the pelvis and from there it enters the lungs. Arterial and venous blood should not be mixed. This process is tightly controlled by valves that allow blood to flow in one direction, but not in the other.
Circulatory system
It consists of vessels - very elastic and strong. When their elasticity is lost, a person has problems with blood circulation, pressure and the condition of veins at the same time. To allow blood vessels to flow, they must be strong and flexible, since the blood has a viscous consistency. Blood consists of plasma and some substances that do not exist in pure form, but mix with plasma in the middle of the heart and sometimes in places where the vessels branch. Then the blood again breaks up into separate enzymes.
Therefore, the vessels receive a different load, associated with different composition of blood and different rates of its flow. For example, erythrocytes move in the center of the vessels. They run very fast, giving the highest velocity in the center of the vessel, which means the greatest pressure. Erythrocytes are the largest in comparison with other blood cells. And from the ends of blood vessels move other blood particles, smaller and slower. There, the blood flow velocity is rather slow, much slower than in the center. This affects the vein walls quite strongly, which also have different thicknesses.
Structure of veins
The vein does not consist of one layer, because otherwise it would quickly break under blood pressure. The vein wall is like a sheet dough, there are several layers in it. The closest inner layer of the vein to the bloodstream is called the endothelial vein. This layer performs a crucial role - it keeps blood pressure on the walls of the vein. After it there are two more layers - middle and muscular, in its structure - smooth muscles.
And then there is a fibrous layer. That's how strong the vein is conceived.
The muscular layer of the vein acts as a regulator, expanding and narrowing the vein as needed. When the walls of the vessel narrow, the pressure in the vessel becomes larger. When the walls of the vessel expand, the pressure decreases. This role is designed for the veins to regulate blood flow, for this they are created.
When the blood flow is disturbed
When blood in the veins goes slowly or completely delayed, the blood remains in the deep veins. It increases its pressure, and the valves of the veins can not fully work. Doctors can diagnose this as a failure of the valves in veins of large diameter. And then the blood in the veins becomes too much, it presses on their walls, and in fact the veins are not rubbery. They restrain the flow of blood as much as possible, and then can not stand it.
They lose their elasticity, expand, the fibers that make up the walls of the veins, break, the walls of the veins stretch, becoming flabby and weak. They can no longer do their work the way they used to. They become like a hose, in some areas of which there is a lot of blood, and they are inflated, while in others they are smaller, and they are of smaller diameter.
When the walls of the veins become weak, they become like a sieve, a plasma seeps into the liquid that is between the tissues. This causes a person to have swelling. First of all, these swelling are well visible on the legs. Vessels become more permeable, out of them first the smallest blood cells - lymphocytes - come out first. Then, through the walls of the vessels, the largest blood corpuscles, red blood cells, penetrate, they give the veins such a dark cyanotic shade. This is because of them, through the thin pink skin of their legs, blue ropes seem to be blown up - both narrow and wider. So with varicose veins, they are dyed dark blue.
How the venous vessels are deformed
When swelling compresses the capillaries, their diameter decreases. In the space between the tissues are the particles of blood, plasma protein. This protein contributes to the fact that the skin and subcutaneous tissue develop connective tissue, which should not be there. This causes sclerosis of capillaries and vessels, that is, their atrophy, a change in structure.
From this, the capillaries lose their property of contracting, become immovable - now they are ordinary tubes, with a narrow diameter, moreover. Exchange processes in them are violated, this causes ulcers on the tissues, dermatitis appears. Finally, if the blood from the arteries and veins did not mix after the operation of the valves and the elasticity of the vessel walls, now the arterial blood can enter the veins and vice versa - the venous can mix with the arterial blood.
A person suffers from hypoxia - oxygen starvation, tissues lack oxygen. Most often this process affects the shin, its lower part.
The skin in these places is cold, it becomes a blue shade. If you do not begin to treat damaged veins immediately, ulcers are formed on your legs - they are called trophic ulcers. It is very difficult to cure them, sometimes it does not work at all.
Therefore, before the formation of trophic ulcers, it is better not to allow.