The consequences of poor vascular health are severe and can shorten your life. Almost as disastrous, poor vein health, leading to issues like non-healing leg ulcers, can ruin your quality of life. Put simply: ignoring your vein health can lead to crippling complications, and modern vein care is quick and nearly painless. These facts make it a no-brainer to care for your veins, which carry the lifeblood of your body. Not convinced? Get the details from Vascular Surgeon Dr. Andrew Hearn at The Vein Center of Cincinnati.
The Vital Role of Veins in Overall Health
Veins are blood vessels that have the crucial job of returning de-oxygenated blood back to your heart and lungs, where blood can absorb more oxygen and nutrients. Any cells in your extremities, like your lower legs, that are deprived of sufficient blood oxygen/nutrients will function poorly and eventually die. Vital organs deprived of blood, like the brain and heart, sustain severe damage or die much more quickly. So even though we talk most often about starving the extremities with poor circulation, the effects of poor vein health affect every part of the body.
Minimally invasive interventions to improve and maintain vein health are available at The Vein Center of Cincinnati. If you have an underlying condition that affects your circulation and weakens veins, like diabetes, you should see your primary physician and Dr. Andrew Hearn regularly.
Leg Ulcers and Other Consequences of Ignoring Your Vein Health
It’s only a purple vein, right? Varicose veins may itch or hurt sometimes, but why bother seeing the doctor? Don’t believe it. Here are just some of the complications of neglecting vein health:
- Leg ulcers: These occur when cells in your extremities die off due to poor vein health and poor circulation. As skin and tissue near the ankles die, it leads to non-healing or slow-healing wounds and infection. Your quality of life becomes limited, along with your freedom of mobility, with such wounds. These are open sores on the lower legs or ankles (typically) that never heal or heal very slowly, requiring careful treatment and monitoring. In the worst cases, without proper vein care, you could lose a limb or your life. Venous leg ulcers are the most common chronic wound of the leg and they are frequently misdiagnosed and mistreated.
- Infections: Open sores can become infected. Resistant and fast-spreading infections can be difficult or impossible to treat with antibiotics. If the infection becomes too severe, and the infection spreads throughout the bloodstream, it can be deadly.
- Lymphedema: Lymph nodes are part of your immune system. Lymphedema is abnormal swelling (in a leg, arm or other body areas) from accumulated protein-containing liquid, which has been blocked from draining properly in the body. Lymphedema causes include heredity, various types of cancer, cancer treatments including surgical lymph node removal, radiation, scar tissue, infection or injury.
How To Keep Healthy Veins For Life
Schedule an appointment with Vascular Surgeon Dr. Andrew Hearn for expert vein care, ideally before you show symptoms of poor circulation or leg ulcers. At The Vein Center of Cincinnati, Dr. Hearn provides the latest, most advanced vein treatments to maintain or improve your vein health. During your initial consultation, Dr. Hearn will take the time to help you understand the underlying cause of your discomfort, explain your treatment options, and then guide you through every step of your procedure and recovery. Call our office today at (513) 232-2400, you’ll be glad you did!