Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSymptomsCausesDiagnosisTreatmentCoping
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Symptoms
Causes
Diagnosis
Treatment
Coping
Venous insufficiency is a condition in which the veins have problems sending blood from the legsback to the heart.The blood vessels in your legs have one-way valves in them that prevent blood from flowing backward. When these valves aren’t functioning properly, venous insufficiency occurs, with blood pooling in the veins, causing symptoms.
Verywell / Jessica Olah
Venous insufficiency is a common condition that affects more than 25 million adults in the United States.The chances of having venous insufficiency increase as you get older. It is also more common in females.Although venous insufficiency can affect the arms, it mostly occurs in the legs.
Other names for venous insufficiency are deep vein incompetence, chronic venous disease, and chronic venous insufficiency.
This article discusses the symptoms and causes of venous insufficiency, as well as diagnosis and treatment.
Venous Insufficiency Symptoms
Most of the symptoms of venous insufficiency are mild, however, advanced stages of the condition may present more serious complications. Some of the common symptoms include:
In severe or advanced cases of venous insufficiency, skin ulcers or open sores may develop on the lower parts of your legs, usually near your ankles. These ulcers are calledvenous stasis ulcers.
These ulcers occur when the blood pressure and swelling increase to a point where your capillaries (tiny blood vessels) burst or get damaged, leading to a leakage of blood into the surrounding area. The skin there will then acquire yellowish and reddish patches that are visible under the skin, and it will also become very sensitive to damage.
Further, these damaged capillaries can cause tissue inflammation along with ulcers. Venous stasis ulcers are difficult to heal, and you can develop severe complications from them.
Varicose Vein Pain: What It Feels Like and How to Find Relief
The most serious complication of venous ulcers is infection, which if not properly handled, can spread and causecellulitis—a potentially life-threatening condition.
What Causes Venous Insufficiency?
Causes of venous insufficiency include:
Sometimes there’s no traceable reason for why your vein valves become weak or fail to work properly.
There are certain risk factors associated with venous insufficiency, including:
How Do I Know If I Have Deep Vein Thrombosis?
Diagnosing Venous Insufficiency
To diagnose venous insufficiency, your healthcare provider will take a medical history, ask about your family history, and perform a physical examination with a particular focus on your legs. They may use a device called a Doppler to help with the diagnosis. A Doppler ultrasound is a diagnostic test used to check the circulation in the large veins in the legs.
Other tests that may be ordered to diagnose venous insufficiency include:
Duplex Ultrasound
This test, which is also known as a vascular ultrasound, is used to check how well your vein valves are functioning. This test uses sound waves to determine how fast blood is flowing in your veins (and in what direction) and produce an image of your veins, to discover what the actual cause/source of your venous insufficiency is.
Magnetic Resonance (MR) Venography
This test can be used to obtain images of your venous system and check if you have deep vein thrombosis, that is, a blood clot in your deep veins.The use of anMR venography testis limited because if you have a metal implant in your body (as is common with many elderly people), you won’t be able to undergo it.
CT (Computed tomography) Venography
This test is generally used to obtain images of parts of your venous system that would be hard to see with a duplex ultrasound, either as a result of the actual location of the blockage or because of excessive swelling.It’s also less frequently used than the duplex ultrasound because it’s more expensive and it involves exposing you to some radiation and contrast dye.
Phlebography
This is another variety of venography, which uses contrast dye injected into the veins of your legs to help them show up clearly on X-rays. Ascendingphlebographyis used to check for DVT, while descending phlebography is used to examine your deep vein valves.
This is an invasive method of diagnosis that involves the injection of contrast dye into your veins through a catheter. Your healthcare provider will likely not order this test except if your diagnosis with a duplex ultrasound was inconclusive or you’re about to undergo surgery for this condition, and your venous system needs to be mapped out.
With the exception of phlebography, these tests are painless and must be done while you’re standing; if you’re unable to stand for a significant period of time, your results may be inaccurate.
These tests also help your healthcare provider decide which course of treatment is best for you.
Venous Insufficiency Treatment
Because the major issue with venous insufficiency is lack of proper blood flow in the right direction, treatments for it are focused on that—getting the blood in your veins to flow right. Your healthcare provider will create a treatment plan to treat your venous insufficiency.
The treatment plan will take into consideration:
Self-Care Options
Your healthcare provider may instruct you to:
Medication
Your healthcare provider may also prescribe any or all of the following medications for you:
Medical Treatments
Surgery
There are different surgical options your healthcare provider may recommend for you:
Venous insufficiency is usually a chronic condition, which means you’ll likely be living with it for the rest of your life. Treatments aim to reduce your symptoms but don’t usually eliminate them, so you’ll have to make a few changes to your lifestyle, such as:
Discuss your current lifestyle with your healthcare provider to determine the necessary and feasible changes you may have to make.
Summary
Venous insufficiency is a condition in which the veins have problems sending blood from the legs back to the heart causing symptoms such as pain, swelling, varicose veins, and more. Treatment focuses on improving blood flow back toward the heart and may include self-care techniques, medications, medical procedures, and/or surgery.
9 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Venous insufficiency.Kim Y, Png CYM, Sumpio BJ, DeCarlo CS, Dua A.Defining the human and health care costs of chronic venous insufficiency.Semin Vasc Surg. 2021;34(1):59-64. doi:10.1053/j.semvascsurg.2021.02.007Santler B, Goerge T.Chronic venous insufficiency - a review of pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment.J Dtsch Dermatol Ges. 2017;15(5):538-556. doi:10.1111/ddg.13242Eberhardt RT, Raffetto JD.Chronic venous insufficiency.Circulation. 2014;130(4):333-346. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.006898Mayrovitz HN, Aoki KC, Colon J.Chronic venous insufficiency with emphasis on the geriatric population.Cureus. 2023;15(6):e40687. doi:10.7759/cureus.40687Liddell RP, Evans NS.May-Thurner syndrome.Vasc Med. 2018;23(5):493-496. doi: 10.1177/1358863X18794276Johns Hopkins Medicine.Venogram.Krizanova O, Penesova A, Hokynkova A, Pokorna A, Samadian A, Babula P.Chronic venous insufficiency and venous leg ulcers: aetiology, on the pathophysiology-based treatment.Int Wound J. 2024;21:e14405. doi:10.1111/iwj.14405Stanek A, Mosti G, Nematillaevich TS, et al.No more venous ulcers—what more can we do?.J Clin Med. 2023;12(19):6153. doi:10.3390/jcm12196153
9 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Venous insufficiency.Kim Y, Png CYM, Sumpio BJ, DeCarlo CS, Dua A.Defining the human and health care costs of chronic venous insufficiency.Semin Vasc Surg. 2021;34(1):59-64. doi:10.1053/j.semvascsurg.2021.02.007Santler B, Goerge T.Chronic venous insufficiency - a review of pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment.J Dtsch Dermatol Ges. 2017;15(5):538-556. doi:10.1111/ddg.13242Eberhardt RT, Raffetto JD.Chronic venous insufficiency.Circulation. 2014;130(4):333-346. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.006898Mayrovitz HN, Aoki KC, Colon J.Chronic venous insufficiency with emphasis on the geriatric population.Cureus. 2023;15(6):e40687. doi:10.7759/cureus.40687Liddell RP, Evans NS.May-Thurner syndrome.Vasc Med. 2018;23(5):493-496. doi: 10.1177/1358863X18794276Johns Hopkins Medicine.Venogram.Krizanova O, Penesova A, Hokynkova A, Pokorna A, Samadian A, Babula P.Chronic venous insufficiency and venous leg ulcers: aetiology, on the pathophysiology-based treatment.Int Wound J. 2024;21:e14405. doi:10.1111/iwj.14405Stanek A, Mosti G, Nematillaevich TS, et al.No more venous ulcers—what more can we do?.J Clin Med. 2023;12(19):6153. doi:10.3390/jcm12196153
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Venous insufficiency.Kim Y, Png CYM, Sumpio BJ, DeCarlo CS, Dua A.Defining the human and health care costs of chronic venous insufficiency.Semin Vasc Surg. 2021;34(1):59-64. doi:10.1053/j.semvascsurg.2021.02.007Santler B, Goerge T.Chronic venous insufficiency - a review of pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment.J Dtsch Dermatol Ges. 2017;15(5):538-556. doi:10.1111/ddg.13242Eberhardt RT, Raffetto JD.Chronic venous insufficiency.Circulation. 2014;130(4):333-346. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.006898Mayrovitz HN, Aoki KC, Colon J.Chronic venous insufficiency with emphasis on the geriatric population.Cureus. 2023;15(6):e40687. doi:10.7759/cureus.40687Liddell RP, Evans NS.May-Thurner syndrome.Vasc Med. 2018;23(5):493-496. doi: 10.1177/1358863X18794276Johns Hopkins Medicine.Venogram.Krizanova O, Penesova A, Hokynkova A, Pokorna A, Samadian A, Babula P.Chronic venous insufficiency and venous leg ulcers: aetiology, on the pathophysiology-based treatment.Int Wound J. 2024;21:e14405. doi:10.1111/iwj.14405Stanek A, Mosti G, Nematillaevich TS, et al.No more venous ulcers—what more can we do?.J Clin Med. 2023;12(19):6153. doi:10.3390/jcm12196153
National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Venous insufficiency.
Kim Y, Png CYM, Sumpio BJ, DeCarlo CS, Dua A.Defining the human and health care costs of chronic venous insufficiency.Semin Vasc Surg. 2021;34(1):59-64. doi:10.1053/j.semvascsurg.2021.02.007
Santler B, Goerge T.Chronic venous insufficiency - a review of pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment.J Dtsch Dermatol Ges. 2017;15(5):538-556. doi:10.1111/ddg.13242
Eberhardt RT, Raffetto JD.Chronic venous insufficiency.Circulation. 2014;130(4):333-346. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.006898
Mayrovitz HN, Aoki KC, Colon J.Chronic venous insufficiency with emphasis on the geriatric population.Cureus. 2023;15(6):e40687. doi:10.7759/cureus.40687
Liddell RP, Evans NS.May-Thurner syndrome.Vasc Med. 2018;23(5):493-496. doi: 10.1177/1358863X18794276
Johns Hopkins Medicine.Venogram.
Krizanova O, Penesova A, Hokynkova A, Pokorna A, Samadian A, Babula P.Chronic venous insufficiency and venous leg ulcers: aetiology, on the pathophysiology-based treatment.Int Wound J. 2024;21:e14405. doi:10.1111/iwj.14405
Stanek A, Mosti G, Nematillaevich TS, et al.No more venous ulcers—what more can we do?.J Clin Med. 2023;12(19):6153. doi:10.3390/jcm12196153
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