Mythbusters

Let’s separate fact from fiction.  Your legs are your “Foundation for Life” and therefore connected to either a great quality of life or a poor quality of life.  It’s the difference between going to work and staying home.  Did you know that there were lost time wages of over 2 billion dollars when last reviewed?  The difference in feeling good or hurting during the day or having a restless night with painful legs often is your choice.  You’re not crazy.  You’re not alone either.  You could have Chronic Venous Disease.  A progressive disease that effects nearly 50-80 million Americans.

Common symptoms of Chronic Venous Disease are: pain, swelling, itching and flaking skin, skin break down and discoloration, heavy legs, restless legs, varicose veins, spider veins, or venous ulcerations.  This is all abnormal and you should seek out a specialist dealing with venous disease.  Simply stated, the underlying cause of this is vein valve damage and cannot be cured with compression stockings, over-the-counter medications, or an advertised “vein” pill.  It is not caused by you working at a job requiring you to stand or from some previous injury that you correlated to Chronic Venous Disease.  Arteries and veins work together to circulate to and from the heart.  When valve damage presents, the blood in the lower legs doesn’t make its way back to the heart.  Instead, it leaks downward from the broken or disease valve and pools in your lower legs near the ankle.  This pooling of blood puts pressure on the nerve located on the inside of your leg and this accounts for all the disturbing feelings you have in your legs.

Here are some common misconceptions about the treatment of varicose veins and venous disease.

Everyone’s legs hurt as they get older. FALSE!

-Chronic Venous Disease leads to a circulatory problem and pressure on the nerve.  This accounts for the heavy, restless, throbbing legs, or painful legs.  Would you ignore the warning lights on the dashboard of your car for a faulty water pump or thermostat?  Or, ignore the timer on the stove while baking a cake?  Variose Veins or the symptoms associated with Venous Disease cannot be ignored either.  These are the warning signs which could lead to more serious issues like a blood clot.  It needs to be addressed.  We can help.

My Insurance won’t cover vein care. FALSE!

-The majority of insurance providers in the United States cover vein care.  You should seek out a doctor with a trained staff that can answer your insurance questions and file on your behalf.  Understanding your insurance policy especially with the challenges associated with “Obamacare” is an absolute must.  We can help.

“They’re  just spider veins.” FALSE

-From a historical perspective and from our clinical experience, when we see someone with numerous spider veins (> 2-3mm and bluish or green in color) or matted Telangiectasias (<1mm in size.  Redish in color) there is usually other issues that need to be addressed.  Why throw money at what you think is a “cosmentic issue” without treating the cause?  It’s foolish and a waste of money.

“I was told by my Primary Care or OBGYN that my only alternative was vein stripping surgery, or to just live with it.” FALSE

-Minimally invasive techniques which are done in an office setting without general anesthesia are today’s GOLD standard for venous disease treatment.  These procedures DO NOT and should not be done in an operating room setting or surgery center where general anesthesia is used.  General anesthesia accounts for more issues in surgical procedures than any other complication combined.  That’s a fact.  Our centers have state-of-the-art technology, using minimally invasive methods, with trained staff with Board Certified Doctor oversight.  Our patients leave within 15 mniutes of the procedures and return to work within the same day or next day.  That’s the CVD difference!

“My legs look bad, but they don’t hurt.  I’m not worried about a Deep Vein Thrombosis. FALSE

-Many people with varicose veins or circulatory issues end up with DVT’s which can lead to a pulmonary embolism.  A PE is a life threatening event.  This is a rare.  But, blood clots in the legs are not.

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