One morning you wake up and realize that veins in your legs are now apparently visible, swollen and bulging. They are colored dark purple. To get rid of these unappealing varicose veins, you may need medical assistance from a vein specialist. But you ask yourself: “Why am I in this situation? Where did I get this?” Read below to know the risk factors for varicose veins. Here are the most common:
Gender
Women are more prone to varicose veins. This is due to various hormonal factors, such as pregnancy, use of birth control pills, menopause and puberty.
Pregnancy
The amount of blood in your body increases when you are pregnant. This is to support the baby in your womb. However, this brings about added strain on your veins thereby causing them to swell and puffed up. The same thing happens as your womb expands. But these are not the only things that place you in higher risk for varicose veins. During your pregnancy, your hormone levels also improve. This leads to the relaxation of the muscular walls of the blood vessels that again, results to the development of varicose veins. However, the appearance of your legs may improve significantly after giving birth.
Age
As you age, your veins lose their pliability thereby prompting them to stretch. As this happens, the valves weaken and are unable to perform properly. This causes the blood to move backward instead of flowing toward the heart. Because blood remains in your veins, they expand and become inflated. You will notice that they change their color into blue (or dark purple). This is because they encompass deoxygenated blood.
Work
If your work requires that you stand for a longer period of time, you are more prone to getting varicose veins. This activity prevents your blood from running easily.
Family History
Your family history is one of the things that place you in higher risk of developing varicose veins. If your parents, siblings or child has been detected with varicose veins or pulmonary embolism, you are more likely to suffer from this condition as well.
Obesity or Overweight
You are giving added pressure on your veins if you are suffering from obesity or overweight. You make it difficult for them to transmit the blood back to your heart; thus, putting intense strain on the valves that may in turn cause leaking.
Ethnicity
Caucasians are highly at risk of having varicose veins than other races. Aside from previous issues on blood clot, current abnormal condition of the blood vessels and swelling or lump in the pelvis, there are other factors that cause you to be more at risk of varicose veins. Gender, age, work, family history, ethnicity, pregnancy and obesity or overweight are the most common.
You can easily prevent yourself from getting varicose veins or stop your present condition from getting worse by changing your occupation and improving your physical activity. However, these only address two primary risk factors: obesity or overweight and work. With the rest of the issues, you will have to find ways to change your way of living or undergo treatment so even if you age and regardless if you are Caucasian, a woman, pregnant and with family history of varicose veins, you can still better your situation.
Sources:
http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseasesconditions/varicoseveins.html http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Varicoseveins/Pages/Causes.aspx http://www.hearthealthywomen.org/amiatrisk/veindisease/raceandveindisease.html
http://havecentre.com/varicose1.htm