Vascular surgeon, Phlebologist

It is worth to note that besides the apparent vein disease manifestation, patients visit the vascular surgeon because of other underlying diseases, causing body's venous system issues.

Varicose veins usually develop at the lower extremities, in the perineum, on the anterior abdominal wall. The veins enlarging in the legs is most often associated with heart failure, when the affected heart as a pump cannot effectively pump blood from the lower part of the body. As a result, a considerable load is placed on the vein valves, they lose the ability to perform their function, blood stagnates in the legs vessels, the vein wall becomes thinner and some of the fluid from the lumen enters the intercellular space. This is one of the mechanisms of formation of edema on the legs.

Another factor that contributes to the enlargement of the extremity veins, especially for people with a healthy heart, is a prolonged static load, when one is standing or sitting still for a long time and has a sedentary lifestyle. Damaged internal veins' wall also becomes a probable place of accumulation of platelets and other blood cells. This creates a blood clot that may eventually tear off, move along the blood stream and close the lumen of an important vessel, causing a heart attack, stroke or pulmonary embolism. Varicose veins of the perineum often occur in pregnant women and the varicose process on the veins of the anterior abdominal wall indicates a obvious pathology of the liver.