Is itchy calves a sign of varicose veins? Symptoms of varicose veins

If you suffer from varicose veins in your calves, the appearance of your calves will change. In addition, you may also experience soreness, swelling, discomfort, and pain. Itching is also one of the precursors of varicose veins, so when your calves itch, you must be vigilant, as this may be a precursor to the disease.

1. Appearance Change

In the affected limbs, especially the calves, the superficial veins bulge, dilate, bend, and even curl into a ball, which is more obvious when standing. For patients with a long course of disease, the elasticity of the venous wall is lost, part of the venous wall becomes thinner and dilated, appearing as venous nodules on the surface of the body, while the other part of the venous wall thickens, forming uneven nodules.

2. Discomfort and pain

Soreness and discomfort are the most common symptoms of varicose veins in the lower limbs. Patients often feel swelling, heaviness or pain in the affected limb, and are easily fatigued and weak. It often gets worse after walking or exertion and gets better after rest. Symptoms are milder in the morning and more severe in the afternoon and evening after a day of activity. People with sensitive senses may experience pain in the affected limb.

In simple varicose veins, swelling is rarely present. If swelling occurs, it is usually caused by perforator vein insufficiency and may cause mild swelling of the ankle and calf. The swelling tends to increase at night and decrease or disappear after a night's rest.

4 Complications

In the early stages of simple varicose veins, other than the obvious varicose veins on the body surface, other symptoms are not very serious. Many people only pay attention to varicose veins when their varicose veins continue to develop and complications occur. Common complications include nutritional changes in the skin, such as skin atrophy, itching, pigmentation, eczema and ulcer formation, which may also cause adverse consequences such as bleeding and thrombophlebitis.