Vein Disease: Can it Be Prevented?

If you have a friend or loved one with varicose veins, you may wonder, “Is there any way I can avoid getting them too?” After all, varicose veins are unsightly, and your friend may also suffer some of the accompanying symptoms such as swollen legs and ankles, aching, or a heavy feeling in the legs. You may also have heard that vein disease can have some pretty serious consequences, which is true. Blood clots, or deep vein thrombosis, can develop in the deep veins of the legs, and can become deadly if left untreated. So it’s natural that you’d be interested in hearing from one of the best vein doctors in New Jersey about how to prevent vein disease from happening to you.

What do Hamilton Square, NJ residents need to know about the causes of vein disease?

In order to understand how to prevent vein disease, it’s helpful to know a little bit about what causes it in the first place. Vein disease is caused by superficial venous insufficiency, or a condition in which the vein walls and valves inside the veins weaken. When they weaken, they are less able to push the blood effectively up the body from the legs to the heart, so blood can pool in the legs. This pooling causes distension, swollen legs and ankles, aching and heaviness, and the bluish, twisting ropes we know as varicose veins.

But what causes our veins to weaken in the first place? It’s a combination of things, some of which we can do something about, and some of which are entirely out of our control. The ones we can’t do much about are aging and heredity. If you are over age 50, or have a family history of vein disease, you are more likely to have it yourself. However, New Jersey vascular doctors such as Dr. Imtiaz Ahmad of Comprehensive Vein Treatment Center also tell us there are lifestyle factors we can control that have a big impact on whether or not we develop vein disease or see it recur.

These lifestyle factors include weight management, fitness, and standing for long periods of time on the feet. If you are overweight or obese, that places stress on the circulatory system and makes it harder for veins to do their job well. Smoking cigarettes, living a sedentary lifestyle and having to stand on your feet for long periods of time also add stress to the circulatory system. When you’re on your feet, you have the added force of gravity working against your veins in their attempt to move the blood up the body to the heart. All of these factors are at least somewhat under our control, and it is clear that people who maintain a healthy weight, exercise regularly, and who take regular breaks from standing are less likely to develop vein disease. And if they do develop vein disease, it progresses more slowly.

The good news is that Dr. Ahmad has treatments and effective prevention strategies for everyone, whether or not you are prone to vein disease and whether or not you already have varicose veins. After a professional venous health evaluation, Dr. Ahmad provides a range of options to help prevent vein disease, or to treat it and then prevent recurrences. All of these services are available right in his NJ vein disease treatment center in Hamilton Square, NJ, with no need to visit any other doctors or medical centers.

So contact us today to schedule your initial appointment by calling 1-888-VEIN-DOC. We’ll be happy to answer all your questions about the prevention and treatment of vein disease.

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