Veins, veins, go away!

Veins, veins, go away!

We all know lots of women who have slim legs but refuse to wear skirts because of unsightly varicose or spider veins. Here are all the facts about those unattractive veins-and what you can do about them. And be sure to check back often-we�ll be adding new information regularly.

The Venous System

Arteries and veins lead to and from the heart. The heart is the �shipping and receiving� department of your body. Vital oxygen and nutrients are distributed and waste products are removed .

The pumping action of the heart continuously drives oxygen-rich blood through the arteries and every organ in the body. A bed of tiny vessels called capillaries connects arteries to veins and allows oxygen to be exchanged for waste products and fluids. Your veins carry the oxygen-depleted blood back to the heart to pick up more oxygen. This is accomplished by two networks of veins in the legs known as the superficial and the deep venous systems.

Superficial and Perforating Veins

The superficial veins are closer to the skin and can be easily seen. They help regulate temperature by dilating or constricting to give off or conserve heat. The superficial veins feed blood to deeper veins via short veins called perforating or communicating veins.

Deep Veins

The deep veins, with help from muscles in the calf and foot, return blood to the heart. These, muscles, called the calf muscle pump or peripheral heart, are the �engine� on the venous end, compressing deep veins, squeezing blood up toward the heart. They play an important role in circulation since the heart does not generate enough pressure to do this job by itself.

Pressure in deep veins is higher than in superficial veins. To keep blood flowing from surface veins to the deep system, leg and arm veins contain of one-way valves. They open for uphill flow and close for downhill flow.

The Valves

The valve has two flaps that float open during muscle contraction and allow blood to flow toward your heart. During muscle relaxation they close, which prevents blood from flowing backward and pooling in the lower legs.

Incompetent valves allow blood to flow upward and backward. When valves become incompetent, blood is allowed to flow in both directions. This leads to sluggish blood flow which can cause swelling and the development of blood clots.

The Problem

Three parts of the venous system of the leg-deep veins, superficial veins, and perforating veins-must work together. Since they are all connected to one another, a problem in one leads to a problem in the others.

The weak link in the whole system is those one-way valves. They can either widen creating turbulent blood flow around the valves, or they can become thick, and eventually get worn away.

To make things worse, perforating veins (the ones that connect deep and superficial veins) contain lots of valves and are thin walled, making them more fragile and susceptible to changes in pressure.

Incompetent valves are nit able to control blood flows so the calf muscle pump becomes ineffective. Venous blood cannot be efficiently returned to the heart because the calf muscle pump is unable to do its job (routing blood back to the deep circulation). When something causes a slowdown or a blockage of venous blood to the heart, it is called venous insufficiency.

What Goes Wrong?

Your veins constantly fight gravity. The pressure from gravity is always present in the legs when we stand and is relieved when we lie down.

Two other important principles apply to fluids; (1) fluids (blood) always flow downward, like water down a mountain stream, and (2) from points of higher pressure to points of lower pressure. In other words, blood will take the path of least resistance.

Thus, failed venous one-way valves lead to chronic overstretching of veins. Like a balloon blown up to often, veins become stretched out of shape and a varicose vein is born. Varicose veins as well as spider veins are vessels that no longer function properly but do not benefit overall circulation.

Though heredity plays a role, your genes don't have to doom you to a life of long pants. Check out other leg health articles in the �Expert Advice� section on what you can do to ward off the blues.

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