What are varicose veins and what harm can they do?

Hi, my name is Usman Jafar. I'm a vascular surgeon and I do treat varicose veins as well as other conditions. Varicose veins are technically defined as dilated tortuous veins and often people notice them in the lower leg. But varicose veins occur due to a failure of the valves which normally keep the blood flowing from your feet up towards the heart. Because those valves fail, there's excess pressure built up in the veins, which is most greatly felt around the ankle areas. Now the problem with varicose veins is that increased venous pressure or pressure in those veins causes symptoms. So, swelling would be directly attributable to the high venous pressure. Also, cells can leak out and fluid can leak out, causing inflammation. and you can have things like varicose eczema, which is a red, angry-looking skin around the ankle area. You can get skin pigmentation. This is sometimes known as ankle flare, and other conditions like lipodermatosclerosis, which is a thickening and a shiny appearance of the skin around the ankles. All these skin conditions can eventually lead to ulceration. Ulceration is a breakdown of the skin surface. This is an extreme sort of end result of varicose veins. Often in the NHS our treatment is aimed towards preventing medical complications like skin changes or ulceration. Varicose veins can obviously be treated for cosmetic reasons as well.