Our arteries are blood vessels bringing fresh blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Our veins represent another type of blood vessels. Their function is to bring used blood from all organs and tissues of our body back to the heart. In human beings, due to their erect posture, the heart is positioned relatively high and above most of the body. This makes it difficult to move venous blood from our legs to the heart. Two factors facilitate this process. Firstly, the veins of our legs contain numerous one-way valves, allowing blood to go only upstream. Second, we have significantly more veins in our lower extremities than arteries. These veins generally belong to one of two categories: deep and superficial. The former ones are surrounded by muscles. The later ones are placed in the fatty tissue right under the skin, and therefore above all the muscles.
Superficial veins, therefore, can become dilated easily since our fatty tissues do not provide any substantial back pressure to support these veins and to prevent their dilation. The deep veins, however, are never become dilated, since surrounding them muscles easily prevent this.
One of the most common disorders affecting superficial veins of the extremities is called superficial venous insufficiency. One of relatively rare symptoms of the above condition is called varicose veins, or varicosities. One of complications of superficial venous insufficiency is thrombophlebitis, commonly mistaken with deep vein thrombosis, which principally different independent disease is affecting not the superficial veins, but rather the deep ones. Deep vein thrombosis (also called DVT) is commonly associated with pulmonary embolism, dangerous and potentially lethal complication, caused by blood clots travelling from DVT into our lungs. Thrombophlebitis on the other hand is fairly unpleasant disorder, yet it never causes pulmonary embolism.
The essential part of treatment of deep vein thrombosis involves anticoagulation, or making the blood thin. The treatment for thrombophlebitis, however, mostly consists of compression and anti-inflammatory therapy.
When and how would you treat vein diseases?
The algorithms for evaluation and medical management of disorders affecting our veins are complex and depend on multiple factors, some of which include, for example, presence and degree of genetic predisposition, type and level of symptoms, overall health condition, individual preferences and many other considerations. Overall, there is hardly any role for surgical interventions, meaning procedures involving making an incision(s). There are, however, multiple so-called “minimally invasive procedures”, which are done through a needle, in the office under local anesthesia, simple, safe and almost immediately effective. Endovenous LASER Therapy, or EVLT, radiofrequency ablation, thermo- and cryo- ablations, microphlebectomy, guided foam sclerotherapy and ClariVein obliteration are just some of the procedures routinely used on daily basis with the outstanding results by specialists of New York Vein Treatment Center. Among other therapeutic modalities currently employed for treatment of vein diseases are anti-inflammatory medications, compression stockings, life style modifications, weight management programs, different types of exercises and many others.
Which treatment is the best for you?
Whether your reasons for treatment are cosmetic or out of concern for your health, our varicose vein center can help. Please call our office at (212) 575-8346 to set up a consultation. With so many safe and effective treatment options available to you, there is no reason to delay in addressing your vein problems.
Dr. Lev Mark Khitin, a leading cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, is the founder of the New York Vein Treatment Center. With almost 20 years of experience and over 20,000 successful vein procedures, he is a renowned expert in the diagnosis and treatment of venous disease. Dr. Khitin’s patient-centered approach and advanced surgical skills have consistently delivered excellent results, making him a prominent figure in the field.