Vein Treatment Center in Hawaii: Vein Health and Diabetes

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As many of you know if you have been reading the articles we provide on this website, having untreated varicose veins greatly increases your risk of developing diabetes. This is one of the reasons we advise patients not to try to "live with" their varicose veins, but to have them treated. But there is another link between vein disease and diabetes that you should be aware of. If you already have either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you should be aware how that disease affects your veins, and thus makes treating your vein disease more complicated.

What Hawaii residents should know about diabetes and vein health

The areas of the body where Oahu varicose vein doctors see the strongest link between diabetes and vein disease are the feet, ankles, and lower legs. When you have vein disease, these are the areas where blood and fluids tend to "pool" in your veins rather than being pumped "upwards" towards your heart and lungs.

If you have normal circulation, this pooling of blood creates increased pressure on the veins and leads to varicose veins. But if your circulatory system has already been compromised by diabetes, far more serious complications can occur. For example, having both vein disease and diabetes can cause changes to occur in the color and texture of the skin in these areas. Your skin becomes thinner and more brittle and thus more prone to injury. Also, if the skin is broken from a minor scrape, your poor circulation keeps it from healing, and the injury can quickly become infected and develop into chronic, bleeding leg ulcers.

Another complication that is common in patients who have both vein disease and diabetes is nerve damage. The symptoms of this kind of damage are tingling sensations and numbness that start in the feet and radiate upwards. This can actually create a situation in which patients develop leg ulcers but are unaware of them because they can no longer feel pain.

Seeing a vein care specialist in Kauai can improve your diabetic foot problems

If your diabetes is advanced, chances are it has already resulted in poor foot conditions. Therapies provided by a vein treatment center in Hawaii can help to improve blood flow and thus reduce the risk of skin-related complications. When varicose vein removal is combined with regular exercise and the use of compression stockings, many patients report a reduction of adverse symptoms caused by both their diabetes and their vein disease.

If you have diabetes, you should have a venous health screening

Naturally, if you have diabetes you should scrupulously follow your doctors' orders with regard to diet and checking your blood sugar levels, but you should also practice regular examination of your feet to check for skin problems before they become serious. And even if you don't have visible varicose veins yet, your diabetes does increase your risk of developing them, so to protect yourself you should consider having a venous health screening. So give Dr. Randall S. Juleff a call today at 808-214-5715 and set up an appointment for your own screening. You'll be happy you did.

Author Bio: Doctors from a noted Vein Treatment Center In Hawaii explain the connections between vein health and diabetes.