Hirudotherapy (treatment with leeches): diseases — симптомы, диагностика и лечение

Varicose veins are persistent dilation of the saphenous veins of the legs due to incompetence of the venous valves. Blood that should move from bottom to top partially flows back and stretches the vein. Many people consider varicose veins to be a purely cosmetic problem and wait for years until they “get in the way.” In fact, this is a progressive disease: without treatment, it leads to swelling, darkening of the skin, trophic ulcers and thrombophlebitis. At the same time, at an early stage, treatment is simple and outpatient.

Hemorrhoids are the enlargement and prolapse of hemorrhoids, cavernous vascular formations that every person normally has and are involved in retaining the contents of the intestine. They become a problem when, due to increased pressure and stagnation, they increase in size, begin to bleed and fall out. This is one of the most common diseases that people are embarrassed to talk about, and that is why people have been treating themselves for years. Meanwhile, the main danger is not in hemorrhoids itself, but in the fact that other diseases, including rectal cancer, are manifested by blood during bowel movements.

Thrombophlebitis is an inflammation of the vein wall with the formation of a blood clot. It is fundamentally important to distinguish between two situations: thrombophlebitis of the superficial veins, which is visible and palpable as a painful dense cord under the skin, and deep vein thrombosis, which is almost invisible from the outside, but is what causes pulmonary embolism - a life-threatening condition. Therefore, if there is sudden unilateral swelling of the leg with pain, you should not warm or rub the leg, but urgently do an ultrasound of the veins.

Chronic venous insufficiency is a condition in which the veins in the legs cannot cope with the return of blood to the heart. The blood stagnates below, the pressure in the veins of the leg increases, fluid and proteins leak into the tissues, and the skin itself gradually changes: first, swelling in the evening, then itching and darkening, then a dense area fused with the underlying tissues, and the result is a trophic ulcer. It is important to separate two concepts that are confused in everyday life. Varicose veins are dilated subcutaneous veins, what is visible to the eye. Venous insufficiency is a dysfunction that can exist without a single visible vein, for example after deep vein thrombosis. Therefore, “the veins don’t protrude, that means everything is fine” is an incorrect reasoning.