Varicose veins are not treated with leeches! Phlebologist recommends not to trust advice from the Network

Why varicose veins occur and whether it can be prevented - this and not only the correspondent of the agency "Minsk-Novosti" told the doctor-phlebologist Alexander Pavlov.

The photo is illustrative in nature

More than just a flaw

— Alexander Gennadyevich, what do phlebologists do?

- These doctors specialize in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases of the venous system. However, this specialty is not singled out separately in our country. Phlebologists are specialists from general or vascular surgery. Phlebology exists at the junction of these two directions.

- What common complaints do patients usually receive?

- The main - veins began to appear too clearly. They also treat convulsions, swelling, pain in the legs. But this happens with neuralgia, flatfoot, arthrosis. Almost every third comes to the phlebologist, as they say, not at the address.

- Can varicose veins be called only a cosmetic problem?

Nope. However, it is important to separate two diseases: varicose veins and reticular varicose veins. Both are progressive. However, the difference between them is significant.

If you do not treat varicose veins, it can be complicated by thrombophlebitis, thrombosis, trophic ulcers and generally negatively affect the quality of life. But reticular varicose veins - those very "stars" and vascular "spiders" - progress only in number. And even if they become more, clinical deterioration and risks will not arise.

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- What are the causes of varicose veins? Is it lifestyle, heredity, obesity?

- Both, and three. The same heredity has not been canceled, but only a predisposition is transmitted, and this does not mean that the disease will necessarily manifest itself. Although, of course, the risk is higher. Plus a lot of provoking factors. For example, in women it is most often pregnancy and childbirth, when the pressure in the venous system increases. At first, the veins simply expand, then the valve fails, and then a number of complex processes occur, as a result of which the problem progresses rapidly.

In the presence of a predisposition, the disease can provoke heavy physical exertion. Even going to the gym if it's unwise to work with weights. Obesity is also always accompanied by an increase in pressure in the veins below the abdomen level.

The head is crazy, the legs of the devil

- Can you name the most common mistakes patients have encountered in their practice?

- I strongly advise not to be treated with leeches, although today the fashion for hirudotherapy is returning. After this procedure, you can feel more comfortable for a while. But it does not cure or affect the prognosis.

I do not recommend resorting to folk remedies like chestnut tincture. This is an attempt to extract the very substances that modern pharmacology already uses as a method of treating varicose veins. Through home research, tiny dosages are extracted that can not affect anything.

A similar story and, admittedly, quite annoying - disbelief in modern pharmacology and excessive enthusiasm for various dietary supplements. And they are much more expensive than good drugs.

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From the same “opera” and an attempt to cure, using “healing” gels, ointments, creams from marketplaces, which promise once and for all to get rid of the disease. You begin to read the composition and just get horrified: in one tube allegedly fit 40 active components! At the same time, it is clearly highlighted that the product is approved by the EEC and even the certificate number is indicated. I decided to check one of these documents. It turned out that it does exist, but in the registration certificate we are talking about a “hygienic, care”, that is, having no relation to medicine.

Often women after childbirth are puzzled, they say, compression stockings were put on, and varicose veins still arose. And here it is important to understand that compression stockings are worn in order to prevent thrombosis, and varicose veins begin to develop from the valves of the large subcutaneous vein, that is, from the area to which the stockings do not reach. And this disease develops not at the time of childbirth, but throughout pregnancy.

By the way, the story about heredity is also overgrown with myths. Yes, it exists, but the disease is common in general, especially recicular varicose veins, which occur in 60-70% of the population over 60 years of age.

From the operating table home

- How are operations to remove sick veins?

- When I first started working, lasers were not yet used in phlebology, but ultrasound devices had already appeared. The surgeries we performed 20 years ago were very traumatic. The patient after the intervention was in the hospital for 7-10 days and then the same amount was in the hospital. At the same time, only one leg was operated on, since injuring two at once would be a serious load. And relapses happened quite often. Today we operate on both legs for an hour and a half, after which you can almost immediately go home.

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- When did you realize you wanted to become a surgeon?

- From the 8th grade I knew I wanted to be a surgeon, not just a doctor. Since then, he has pursued his goal. And as soon as surgery appeared in the curriculum at the 3rd year of Vitebsk Medical University, where he studied, he chose it. My department specialized in problems of venous pathology - since then I have been dealing with this topic. By the way, I taught for 18 years in medical universities of Vitebsk and Minsk.

- Does professional burnout happen? If so, how do you fight him?

- Covers periodically. Most often because of negative feedback (from English. “feedback”): you do everything you can, but the desired result is still not. Or, on the contrary, you get negative from patients, although you did not give a reason. These are serious and difficult moments in the work.

They say that to avoid this, you need to periodically change jobs. Going completely to another is difficult, so it is better to choose something adjacent. I succeeded: from general surgery I moved to vascular, then in my practice, in addition to veins, arteries appeared. Change must happen, otherwise burnout cannot be avoided.

For reference

Alexander Pavlov is a vascular surgeon with more than 20 years of experience, doctor of the highest category, candidate of medical sciences, author and co-author of 60 publications on chronic and acute diseases of the lower extremities, member of the Belarusian Association of Angiologists and Vascular Surgeons.

Photo by the Internet