What are Varicose Veins?

Varicose veins are superficial veins that protrude, bend, and curve. They should actually be known as 'twisted veins', the Latin root, whence we get the word 'varicose veins’. Some people think it has to do with 'cramps in the leg', but this is only sometimes the case if the metabolism of the electrolytes is disturbed by a long-standing vein congestion or for other reasons. The presence of varicose veins is called ‘varicosis’.

Varicose veins are diseased veins, regardless of whether they are large or small: the walls of the veins are abnormal in terms of structure and chemical signals, the blood flow in the varicose vein is abnormal - temporarily or permanently it goes in the wrong direction. The process is abnormal, because without smart measures the condition will slowly but surely deteriorate over years and decades. Every large varicose vein once started small.

Doctors distinguish between 'truncal varicosis', i.e. varicose veins that emanate from large veins (Vena saphena magna or - parva), 'lateral branch varicosis', which emanate from lateral branches of the vena capa superior, 'reticular varicosis' (Latin rete for net) for reticular and mostly smaller varicose veins, and 'spider veins varicosis', which is a characteristic form of the finest vein dilations in the skin. If varicose veins reoccur at the same site after treatment - usually after surgical measures - this is referred to as 'recurrent varicosis'.

The good news is that varicose veins no longer have to be present. Varicose veins can be removed very easily, safely and with good sustainability in the angioclinic® venous centers. The way they have developed, they can disappear within a short time.