To maintain the physiologically correct pressure in the lower limbs, in the complex therapy and prevention of varicose veins, compression stockings are widely used today.
In the medical literature, such special underwear is also called medical, anti-varicose stockings, compression underwear, or medical compression stockings.
These are socks, which are recommended by phlebologists as a treatment and prevention of various problems of the blood vessels in the legs. Compression underwear is mainly used for varicose veins, thrombosis, epithelializing trophic ulcers, thrombophlebitis, lymphedema.
- The therapeutic effect of compression underwear is due to the effect of supporting, squeezing the dilated vein, which contributes to the redistribution of blood flow from the altered and dilated veins to healthy ones.
- Improve tissue nutrition, increase blood circulation
- The most important thing is that this shirt, when used correctly and of the right size, reduces the risk of blood clots.
- And what is also important, in the absence of contraindications of compression underwear to its use, there are no side effects, this is a safe and simple method of preventing varicose veins, keeping the veins in a natural and physiological state.
The therapeutic effect of compression tights for varicose veins?
Previously, before the large-scale production of high-quality medical linen, elastic bandages were widely used, the use of which has a number of disadvantages:
- firstly, they should be applied very correctly every time, which doesn't always work and takes a long time
- secondly, the appearance of the bandages does not allow them to be worn, for example, to work
- thirdly, the low price for them turns out to be deceptive, since the bandages deteriorate very quickly, which nullifies all savings.
What is the effect of using the medical vest? When squeezing dilated veins, compression garments for varicose veins accelerate blood flow through the deep veins, thereby eliminating venous congestion. In addition, modern high-quality compression stockings provide a gradual decrease in pressure from the lower leg to the thigh or from the hand to the shoulder.
For example, in the lower leg, the pressure created by compression stockings or tights is at most 100% and in the upper thigh is 40%. This is the most appropriate and physiologically determined pressure change, which has a therapeutic effect. This mode of distribution of pressure on the veins stimulates and normalizes the blood outflow upwards due to:
- improvement and normalization of the valve apparatus
- reduction of the enlarged lumen of peripheral veins, in particular saphenous veins of the thighs and lower leg
- increasing the effect of the muscle pump: when the muscles contract due to physical exertion, the blood is pushed upwards.
However, it should be remembered that compression linen treatment for varicose veins does not eliminate the root causes of venous insufficiency and is used before radical surgical treatment. This mesh mimics the situation: enlarged veins are sealed or removed.
In addition, conservative non-surgical treatment of leg diseases should be comprehensive. The maximum effect can be achieved if you use creams, ointments recommended by your doctor, lead a healthy lifestyle, wear compression stockings or tights every day, and also use folk remedies to treat varicose veins.
Contraindications for the use of compression stockings
As with any treatment, every remedy or medicine has a number of contraindications and the medical shirt is no exception. Some people should absolutely not use compression garments, others should use it with caution after a thorough diagnosis and consultation with a doctor. If there are relative contraindications, you should consult a dermatologist, cardiologist, endocrinologist.
- Such underwear is absolutely contraindicated for atherosclerosis, obliterating thromboangiitis, endoarteritis, orthoarteritis. With such chronic diseases of the arteries of the legs, which lead to a decrease in the lumen of the vessels and systolic blood pressure of less than 80 mm. rt. Art. it is categorically impossible to reduce the pressure in the lower limbs with the help of the medical vest.
- Medical knitwear should be used with caution by people with overly sensitive skin.
- It is not recommended to use compression underwear for inflammatory skin diseases, allergic skin reactions, various dermatitis, pressure sores, open wounds, acute thrombophlebitis and eczema.
- Diabetes mellitus is a relative contraindication, since in case of damage to the vessels of the legs due to diabetes, such underwear should also not be used.
- With septic phlebitis and severe cardiopulmonary insufficiency, when circulatory disturbances occur at rest, compression stockings should also not be used.
Many people are afraid to start wearing compression underwear due to the fact that the mesh is believed to cause the development of the muscle layer atrophy of the venous walls and when their use is stopped, the opposite negative effect can occur - when the venous wall cannot withstand the blood pressure in the lumen of the vessel. Therefore, due to the atrophy of the venous walls, the existing varicose veins will progress even more.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to conduct clinical studies on every vein that is subject to compression, but phlebologists believe that this opinion is incorrect, since:
- The patient cannot wear compression garments all day
- In compressed veins, blood flow decreases rather than stops altogether.
- Muscle wall atrophy most often occurs with a genetic arrangement and a local specific inflammatory process with venous stasis and venous filling. And all of this comes down to when you use the jersey.
- This can only happen based on the patients initial sensations when the use of underwear is stopped. In this case, a temporary deterioration in condition and well-being occurs, which is not explained by atrophy and progression of varicose veins, but by a temporary decrease in the tone of the venous wall.
- Reviews and feelings of patients at the end of the use of compression underwear with varicose veins: it is difficult for most to get used to starting walking after using compression stockings. Many argue that when using a medical product, the legs become, so to speak, light and many no longer want to give up their use.
How to choose compression garments
Medical compression underwear, mesh are divided into: hospital, which is used only in hospitals, prophylactic and therapeutic. We will consider in detail the compression classes of varicose medical compression stockings, how to choose compression underwear, how to wear it and how to care for it.
The most important point is to buy compression stockings, tights, knee-highs exclusively in specialized salons, orthopedists or retailers of famous brands. In them, trained personnel know how to accurately select the size of the linen, as a wrong size can turn the treatment into an absolutely ineffective one. In a special store, the seller will measure the leg in 4 points and select the size of the tights or stockings according to a special table.
There are 4 degrees of compression:
- 18-21mm. rt. Art. Compression class 1 is a prophylactic compression that can and should also be worn constantly by people: prone to varicose veins, pregnant women, people with initial signs of varicose veins, when the subcutaneous veins stand out strongly, if leg pain appears later prolonged sitting or standing, if spider veins are pronounced and edema appears at the end of the day in the area of the feet and ankles, healthy people whose lifestyle and work force them to sit or stand for a long time time - to office workers, drivers, hairdressers, salespeople.
- 23 - 32mm. rt. Art. Compression class 2 is the best and popular class used for the treatment of thrombophlebitis and varicose veins.
- 34 - 46mm. rt. Art. Compression class 3 - used for trophic disorders and severe venous insufficiency.
- 49 and more 4 compression class - used very rarely, with lymphatic edema.
Those who choose anti-varicose knitwear for the first time should not immediately buy expensive underwear of the 2nd degree of compression, it is possible that your vascular system will not be able to resist it. When you walk around in cheap underwear for a while, get used to it, if you feel comfortable then you can get better and more expensive compression underwear.
For prevention, of course, it is worth using only underwear of the 1st compression class, and already with the development of varicose veins, the compression class is determined by the phlebologist. Compression underwear cannot cure varicose veins, since the reasons for its appearance are very deep, and the external influence can only be suspended, it cannot develop further, that is, compression tights for varicose veins are designed to prevent appearance of new varicose wreaths. In the summer, of course, it is impossible to wear knitwear, so in the warm season you should take medications by mouth or use other methods of treatment.
You should also know that any compression underwear holds compression for no more than 5-7 months.
The opinions of some women about the quality of compensation underwear from various manufacturers show that expensive models are not always of better quality than cheap ones. The sheets made in Germany are of good quality, the prices of which are quite reasonable.
What to look for when buying and how to avoid counterfeiting?
There are quality standards for medical compression underwear for varicose veins, one of the most significant and strict is the European standard RAL-GZ-387. In order for a manufacturer to use the logo of this standard, it must undergo a rigorous certification in Germany or Switzerland. If the underwear has such a certificate, it means that it is really high quality, creates a distributed pressure of 40-70-100% and is therapeutic, you can know this standard from the packaging and the label on the product.
It is worthwhile to choose a manufacturer very carefully, as there are many fakes in our market, so it is better to buy compression stockings or compression tights in retail stores or specialized stores, where specialists will carefully select the right model based on your size
Since such knitwear must be worn every day, it must be hypoallergenic; to determine this, the purchased product must bear the Oeko-Tex Standard 10 European environmental safety standard mark.
Are there any particularities when wearing compression stockings, tights, golf?
Be aware that even the second class of compression stockings, considered to be the most common, are sometimes "beyond their power" for the patient:
- Often this occurs due to the inconvenience and difficulty of wearing underwear on the feet. The peculiarity of such knitwear is that it cannot be worn as a children's tights, by gathering it in an accordion and then pulling it up. Both stockings and tights need to be put on gradually, spreading them on the leg. If a person has a large belly, and tying a lace on a boot is already a problem, then it will also be difficult to put on underwear.
- To facilitate putting on, many use special devices that are offered in the salons themselves. And even gloves, which must be worn, can be both domestic and medical, as expensive underwear can be spoiled by a manicure, and underwear will slide better if your hands are in gloves.
- Of course, the toenails should be trimmed, filed, there should be no calluses, roughness, otherwise the linen will quickly burst or there will be a lot of puffs.
- It is also important that the legs are dry, as well as the underwear, to wear compression stockings in the morning, when the legs are not swollen and rested.
- It is especially difficult to wear products of compression class 3 - this is a lot of work and if the patient believes his phlebologist and is sure that he needs such treatment, then you should be patient, otherwise you should not start treatment from this class. It is usually recommended to wear class 3 and 4 compression using a special special device.
How to take care of compression garments?
- It is better to have 2 pairs of compression tights, as they should be washed every day - this is necessary to get rid of the smallest specks, dust, particles of skin, as they can damage the laundry fibers faster than detergents.
- It should only be hand washed with baby soap, as it cannot be machine washed. The water temperature during washing should not exceed 40 C and it is also impossible to iron and bleach the laundry.
- Any brighteners and conditioners have a destructive effect on the structure, therefore they should not be used for washing as well.
- Dry the laundry flattened on a horizontal surface, in no case wring it out, but only gently press it onto a towel. Do not dry your knitwear on a battery, in a conventional dryer upright, in the open sun or with a hair dryer.
- You should also take care of the silicone strips on the socks, they quickly lose their fixing properties after contact with water, try not to get them wet when washing, but clean them with an alcohol-soaked napkin.