VARICOSE VEIN CASES ON THE INCREASE
Younger people who lead sedentary lives sat at a desk, relying on a car for transport and then coming home to sit in front of a TV screen all evening are up to 20% more likely to develop varicose veins than their parents generation.
Unfortunately for women the news is even worse as they are over twice as likely to suffer from varicose veins than men. Pregnancy increases the risk by an additional 10-20%, as does being overweight and a family history of this problem can lead to a 90% chance of development.
These statistics are reinforced by the number of orders that internet retailer Daylong has received from younger women in the past 12 months. “Our orders for compression hosiery from theunder 50s have increased by more than 27% in the last year – an alarming statistic that is reflective of the overall increase in cases of varicose veins in the UK,” comments John Darrock from Daylong.
What are Varicose Veins?
Varicose veins develop when blood pools in the veins close to the surface of the skin rather than flowing back to the veins deeper in the legs and going back to theheart. The condition is not life threatening but it can become very painful and is certainly unsightly.
The Treatments
Although treatments for varicose veins on the NHS are still available, services areslowly being withdrawn in many areas. Today new technologies mean that veinscan be treated with lasers and with injections in a walk in clinic and patients return to work the next day wearing medical compression hosiery as recommended by leading clinicians.
How Do You Prevent Varicose Veins?
For the thousands of people in the UK who are at risk of developing varicose veins there are certain things that you can do to help prevent them:
- keep your weight within your ideal weight range;check your BMI and keep it between 18.5and 24.9
- if you have a sedentary job make sure that youkeep mobile as often as possible; take stairs rather than a lift, get out ofyour chair and go for a short walk every hour
- if you have a job that involves at lot of standing then make sure you take a break and take the weight off your feetevery hour
- wear compression hosiery in place of normal hosiery as this helps to keep the blood circulating around the legs; there aresome really fashionable ranges available now from online retailers like www.daylong.co.uk
