When Varicoise Veins Become Painful

For the majority of the millions of Americans who have varicose veins — they affect about 30% of the general population — the vascular issue is more cosmetic than anything else. For some, however, varicose veins can be a source of discomfort, and when this happens, it might be signaling a larger problem.

To connect the dots between varicose veins and discomfort, we turn to vascular specialist Dr. Satjit Bhusri and the team at The Upper East Side Vein Institute, who specialize in vascular issues.

Why varicose veins form

The veins in your legs have no small task — they need to deliver blood back up to your heart for oxygen, while facing the challenges of distance and gravity along the way.

To help them, these veins rely on several things:

• Strong, flexible blood vessels
• Strong calf muscles to help push blood back up
• One-way valves that close as blood passes through to prevent it from pooling

When a varicose veins forms in your leg, it means that you might be falling short on some of these fronts. (Please note that pregnancy is also a risk factor for varicose veins due to hormonal changes.)

One of the biggest drivers of varicose veins is chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), which is diagnosed in 150,000 Americans each year. With CVI, the valves we mentioned earlier start to fail, and they don’t close all the way, which allows blood to pool, engorging the blood vessels and sending them to the surface of your skin.

Side effects of varicose veins

As we already pointed out, most varicose veins don’t pose any issues in terms of comfort and they’re more of an aesthetic concern.

That said, there’s a minority of varicose vein sufferers who do develop pain and discomfort that they typically describe as:

• Aching
• Cramping
• Heavy
• Itchy

These symptoms can flare if you’re on your feet all day or, going to the other end of the spectrum, if you spend long hours sitting.

When these symptoms occur, it likely means that you have moderate-to-advanced CVI, and the varicose veins are an outward sign of the problem. Other signs of potentially problematic CVI include ulcers that develop around the varicose vein, which is a result of too much fluid buildup that places pressure on your tissues. As you might imagine, these ulcers only add to your discomfort.

Treating painful varicose veins

If you have painful or uncomfortable varicose veins, it’s important that you come see us so that we can assess your vascular health.

The good news is that we offer many effective varicose vein treatments that will get rid of the unsightly vein. Once we remove the vein, your pain should go away, but it won’t resolve the underlying vascular issue.

So, we will also work with you on better supporting the veins in your legs through exercises, compression socks, and medications if we find that you have venous disease.

The takeaway here is that you shouldn’t ignore painful varicose veins. The better route is to come see us for a vein evaluation, and to set that up, please call our New York City office on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at 212-752-3464. You can also schedule an appointment online by clicking here.