One question that vein clinic in New Orleans hears most often is, “Can arteries become varicose, the way that veins do?” The simple answer to this question is “No,” but like many aspects of vascular medicine, it may require a bit more explanation to understand why the answer is “No.”
What New Orleans residents need to know about arteries and veins
First, these two types of blood vessels have very different “jobs.” Your arteries convey nutrient-rich and oxygen-rich blood from your heart and lungs to your organs and extremities. Then your veins return the deoxygenated blood and waste products to your heart and lungs for renewal. The way that they do this is key to understanding why arteries don’t become varicose.
Arteries have thick, muscular walls that contract to pump blood as your heart beats, and thus “pushes” blood to all areas of your body. Vein walls contain very little muscle tissue, and thus must rely on the contraction of the muscles that surround them to pump blood back to the heart.
A vein’s lack of internal pumping muscles is what puts it at risk of becoming varicose. In healthy veins, the flow of blood is maintained by a series of tiny, one-way valves that open to allow blood to flow through, but then close to prevent it from flowing “backwards.” When the venous valves become weak or damaged due to vein disease, they become “leaky” and blood begins to pool in the veins, causing them to swell and change color, taking on the bluish-purple color of deoxygenated blood. These swollen veins are what we call varicose. This reflux (backwards) flow cannot happen with arteries, because of their internal muscles. Arteries can become diseased in many other ways, but they can’t turn varicose.
What can be done to treat veins once they have become varicose?
Unfortunately, once the valves in your veins have become damaged by vein disease, they can’t be repaired of “fixed.” Instead, what the best vein doctors in Louisiana at La Bella Vita Laser and Vein Center do is use gentle, minimally-invasive methods such as sclerotherapy to close the diseased veins permanently. The treated veins then are naturally absorbed into surrounding muscle tissue, and blood flow is automatically re-routed to healthier veins in the area.
Modern varicose vein removal at a vein clinic in New Orleans is fast, painless, and can be completed in about an hour in the comfort of your vein doctors’ offices. Why live with the unattractiveness of varicose veins and the side effects that can develop if they are not treated, when removing them is so easy? Give your Covington varicose vein doctors a call today at or go online and let them help give your legs back their natural beauty and give you back your energy and good health.
Click here to read Layperson’s Guide to Varicose Veins
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