Gravity and the Veins

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 788, 27 August 1954, Page 18

Gravity and the Veins

This is the text of a talk on health broadcast recently from ZB, YA

and YZ Stations of the NZBS

hy |

DR.

H. B.

TURBOTT

Deputy-

Director-General of Health -_---_~

‘[ HERE'S something that worries @ woman more than a man, It’s those blue lines developing on shapely legs, lines that show through nylons, and that | presage big raised knotty veins later on. That stage may not come, of course, but it’s the possibility that’s worrysome. Varicose veins do bother women more than men, three or four times more. I don’t think they happened when we walked on all fours. When we popped up and became two-legged, our hearts were raised a long way further from our feet. Our blood from our feet had to get up to our hip level, but then travelled horizontally to the heart, when we were four-footed. Becoming two-footed meant a lot more gravity to overcome, and a lot more blood weight in a column vertical from heart to foot. That extra weight becomes pressure on the vein walls. Over many centuries the vein walls in the legs have been adjusting to this heavy pressure. In some the adjustment fails. The veins give way, and not the arteries, because the veins have less muscle and elastic tissue in their walls. The veins give. way in some people and not others because heredity comes into (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) it. Some of us have less elastic veins than others. There’s a deficiency in the muscle coat. If the tone of the vein muscle is good, the veins stay firm and contracted and the blood goes straight back to the heart. It doesn’t fall back between heart pumps because of little one way valves placed nicely along the way. Should these not close snugly and ‘there’s weakness in the vein’s muscular layers, the blood flow falters, falls back, and naturally there’s trouble. The veins bulge. After a while this bulging is more in some places than others, and you ultimately get twisted, knotty veins -so ugly and so feared by women. Varicose veins usually appear on the inner side of the legs. The first signs may be small spider-web-like splotches of veins, or there may be blue worm-like linear swellings just under the skin. This may indicate that the superficial veins are having to do a bigger job than planned. They are assuming the task of returning most of the blood to the heart because the deep veins are failing. On the other hand, the deep veins may be as good as gold, and the surface system only is falling down on the job. But most commonly.it is one of the main trunk veins that is at fault, the saphenous vein almost on the surface of the inside’ of the leg. It is the longest vein in the body, from the foot to the top of the leg, with a branch coming up from the ankle behind the knee, the two making the saphenous vein. This is the usual culprit when unsightly knobbly lumps spoil the lower limb. This development brings troubles. There is;:of course, poor circulation in the legs, pains and cramps and vague aches develop in the legs. The skin becomés waterlogged and puffy, therefore stretched and badly nourished. A brownish patch onthe inner side of the leg is a warning that skin breakdown is imminents Knock, scratch or bruise this patch and it won’t heal. The thin walled vein breaks and there’s a painful black or blue area, that becomes a large ulcer, known. as a varicose ulcet. Such ulcers are very difficult to heal. The wise thing is to admit the presence of varicose veins and have them attended to before ulcers develop. ; There is no way of repairing varicose veins. But the falling back or reverse flow of blood can be stopped. If it is early in the trouble and the veins are small, varicose veins can ‘be injected. Substances used irritate the vein walls, causing a reaction that entirely blocks up the vein, and other veins take over the task of the blocked up one. The simplest aid for early cases is an elastic bandage worn round the leg to overcome the back pressure and stop some of the swelling that results. If the big saphenous veins are at fault neither of these methods are likely to succeed, but an operation to remove a piece of the vein and tie if off, combined with injection to seal: leaks, may be tried, or even a more drastic removal of the vein. * Moral: The early bird gets the easiest cure. Seek advice before varicosities are marked,