Treating leg veins post pregnancy, best mother’s gift ever
There are plenty…plenty of problems we face each day that we can only blame on ourselves.
Sometimes…rarely…there are problems that we have absolutely no culpability for…the finger pointing goes every-which-way but back at us.
Spider and varicose veins are just such a problem. It turns out that the biggest factors leading to the development of varicose and spider veins are Genetics (thanks mom and dad) and Pregnancies (thanks, kids).
As for the genetics part, if ONE of your parents had a significant underlying leg vein issue…the kind of problem that led to them requiring the use of compression stockings or needing (now outmoded) procedures such as vein stripping or other surgery…you had about a 50% chance of developing similar issues. BOTH parents with the problem?…about a 90% chance. That’s why it’s so important to choose your parents wisely. Nonetheless, add that to all the other things you can blame them for…ahem…like not being taller.
As for pregnancies…sure, we choose to get pregnant…or at least that’s what we tell the kids, anyway…so there’s some volition involved…but it’s the significant changes in the body during and after pregnancies that can heavily contribute to the development and progression of lower extremity vein disease…so it’s really ultimately the kids’ fault.
Here’s what those critters are doing to your lower extremity veins during pregnancy:
1) There are more hormones (estrogen and progesterone) swirling about your bloodstream that help to support and maintain the pregnancy. They can also make veins more “stretchy”…and this can lead to failure of the valves that are meant to prevent pooling of flow in your legs. Broken valves can lead to the development of varicose and spider veins.
2) There is more volume flowing through the veins as mom has to both supply her body and the growing baby’s during the pregnancy. More volume leads to more “stretchy”…see #1 above.
3) Finally, there is a creature growing in mom’s pelvis…getting bigger and bigger and may impact the ability of venous flow to return from the lower extremities. More “back pressure” impeding flow can lead to “venous hypertension” in the lower extremities….more stretching out of veins.
So…what does all of this mean? It means that if you have varicose veins (bulging) and/or spider (web-like, reddish/bluish) veins in your lower extremities, you need to do 2 things:
1) Ask…no…DEMAND….much in gifts for Mother’s Day. Flowers? Feh! You need to lift up your pant leg and say “Do you see what you did to me?! This is fixed with diamonds and fancy chocolates, buddy…not flowers!!!”
2) OK…its not fixed with either of those things. No harm in asking for those things, but they are actually fixed by ME, Dr. David Rosen. So you need to come see me.
When patients come to see me for their 1 hour Initial Consultation appointment, I do a thorough medical history and a focused exam. I spend all that time in order to learn about you, about your goals and help to create a treatment plan tailored to your specific needs.
Treatments nowadays do not require surgery [Yay!]. State-of-the-art treatments that I offer are:
• all performed in the office
• do not require any sedation. Minimal, if any, local anesthetic is ever required
• VERY well tolerated. Traffic on the Edens Expressway is more painful than anything I do
• without any downtime. You can leave the office and return to most of your routine activities immediately.
Many treatments may even be covered by commercial insurance carriers and Medicare. The first step is booking your appointment so we can determine the extent of your problem and the eligibility of coverage.
I look forward to meeting you and helping your legs to feel and look better than they have in years.
Meanwhile, try not to be too hard on your kids. They say that when you point a finger at someone else, there are 3 pointing right back at you: remember your own mom on Mother’s Day!