Many women find they dread the warm seasons due to their unsightly varicose and spider veins. They unfortunately affect mostly women who are over the age of fifty, but what has caused them, and how do you get rid of them? There are multiple factors making you susceptible to visible and protruding veins on your legs. Let’s focus on how your body weight can affect your veins.
What Is Vein Disease?
Vein disease is known as vein insufficiency and it is precisely what causes spider and varicose veins. When the one-way vein valves that control the blood flow become overloaded from stress, they stop working properly. Instead of pumping blood back to the heart, they can flow the wrong way or flow more slowly. This disease causes blood to pool in certain areas of the body, like the ankles and legs, and bulging bluish veins appear.
Increased Weight And Vein Insufficiency
When you carry around too many pounds for your body frame and become overweight, it increases the pressure not only on your joints, but also on your veins, especially in your legs. This process increases the risk of symptoms like the following:
- Itchy skin
- Change in skin texture
- Leg fatigue and cramps
- Swelling of legs and ankles
- Restless leg syndrome
- Sores on legs which can lead to infection
Walking up and down stairs and doing normal activities can be difficult with these symptoms.
Will Losing Weight Treat Vein Disease?
Vein disease is a progressive one which is difficult to repair once vein valves are compromised.
However, being overweight is not the only risk factor. If you are pregnant, have a job that requires you to either sit or stand too long, if you are inactive and have high blood pressure, and if you have close relatives with vein disease, you are more at risk.
Don’t give up. Engage in exercise, eat healthy, and stop smoking to reduce both your weight and your chances of getting vein disease.
If you do lose some weight, it will help but not cure vein disease. The good news is there are treatments available.
See A Vein Specialist At Advanced Vascular Associates
Seek out a specialist who can devise a plan for you.
There are at home remedies, medications, non-surgical procedures, and traditional types of surgeries to treat vein disease. Contact Advanced Vascular Associates at (973) 540-9700, or request a visit online, for treatment options for your spider or varicose veins.