Compression stockings are an incredibly valuable aspect of treatment for a variety of conditions, including many issues with leg veins. While some models aren’t exactly the height of fashion, these garments can change lives.
Compression stockings for varicose veins and other vein-related conditions are among the most effective non-invasive tools we have for managing leg health. You might be someone who stands all day at work, be dealing with the discomfort of varicose veins, or simply be preparing for a long-haul flight.
Regardless, understanding how to use compression as a treatment is a game-changer. So, will compression stockings help varicose veins? Why does compression help in the first place? Let’s review.
Why does compression help vein disorders?
We tend to recommend compression stockings for varicose veins and a variety of other vein disorders, but why? To understand this better, we need to look at how your blood gets back to your heart.
Your heart is amazing at pumping blood down to your toes, but getting it back up against gravity is much harder. The calf muscles in the leg are the main pump for getting blood out of the legs and back to the heart. Your calf muscle pump is effective when walking or running, but it is generally not activated when sitting or standing.
Inside your veins are little one-way valves that stop the blood from leaking back down into the legs. However, even with one-way valves, a person with normal veins will still have blood pooling in their legs when sitting or standing for long periods.
Compression stockings are designed to help out. They create something called “graduated compression”, and that means they’re tightest at your ankle and gradually loosen as they go up the leg.
The pressure acts like a gentle upward shift, encouraging your blood to move toward your heart, and, when used correctly, the compression effect of the stockings reduces the diameter of the leg veins. Reducing the diameter of the veins in the leg when wearing compression stockings encourages blood to leave the leg at a faster rate.
By reducing blood pooling in the legs, compression stockings reduce leakage of fluid from distended veins into leg tissue and therefore reduce leg swelling. So, by narrowing the veins, compression stockings can support the valve leaflets more effectively.
Will compression stockings help varicose veins?
This is the big question: will compression stockings help varicose veins disappear?
In short, they’ll help the symptoms, but they won’t necessarily address the underlying structure. If a vein has already become varicose (i.e., the valve has failed and the vein has stretched), a stocking can’t reverse that process or fix the broken valve.
However, compression stockings for varicose veins are incredibly effective in other ways:
- They help to reduce aching, so they take that heavy feeling away.
- They manage swelling by preventing fluid from leaking into the tissues around your ankles.
- They prevent the progression of vein disorders, which is why we recommend compression stockings for varicose veins as a matter of course.
- Compression stockings also significantly lower the risk of dangerous blood clots, DVT, and skin ulcers.
So, will compression stockings help varicose veins? Yes, they’ll help you to feel better, and they can reduce the risk of complications of varicose veins, such as venous leg ulcerations. However, compression stockings can’t reverse any varicose veins that have already occurred.
Compression stockings are very helpful before and after any varicose vein treatment procedures. They are also useful for patients with varicose veins who have not yet undergone treatment, and they can help improve symptoms and skin complications associated with varicose veins.
When should you reach for compression stockings?
We recommend compression stockings for varicose veins, and there are a few specific scenarios in which we suggest wearing them.
If you tend to stay in the same position for much of the day, your calves and venous valves will have a hard time pushing blood back up. Stockings help a lot by encouraging blood from the legs and back to the heart.
We recommend compression stockings for flights longer than four hours, as the risk of blood clots increases on these flights. The risk increases for flights longer than 8-10 hours. This risk is particularly important for patients who live with other risk factors for DVT.
If you are in the later stages of pregnancy, wearing compression stockings provides meaningful benefits such as reducing swelling, improving circulation and lowering the risk of blood pooling
If you have just had a vein treatment with us (such as sclerotherapy, laser or RFA, wearing your stockings is important to assist the treated vein in staying closed while it heals and to reduce the risk of DVT.
Tips for living with compression stockings:
If you’re going to wear compression stockings for varicose veins, we’ve got a few tips to help the treatment really go the distance.
- If you’re wearing the stockings all day, then make sure to put the stockings on as soon as you get out of bed. This is right when gravity is starting to pull the blood down into your ankles.
- Avoid folding the top. Even if the stockings are too long, folding over the top band creates a tourniquet effect that can block circulation (that’s the opposite of what we want!).
- You can take the stockings off at night, unless your doctor has told you otherwise. Lying horizontally while sleeping reduces pressure in the veins and usually helps blood flow from the legs back to the heart (leg elevation helps even more, but that is another topic). You usually need to wear compression stockings while sleeping after a varicose veins procedure, but your healthcare provider will let you know if this is necessary.
- If wearing open-toe compression stockings, avoid letting the bottom edge of the stocking ride up the midfoot. When the edge of the stocking compresses the midfoot, it can cause swelling in the toes. So make sure your stockings are fitted, with the open-toe edge resting on the toes.
- If wearing the below-knee stockings, don’t pull the top of the stocking all the way up to the knee crease. This is too high and usually causes significant irritation due to movement. Fit the top of the below-knee stockings to one or two finger breadths below a bent knee. This means the top of the stocking sits at the top of the calf, but allows movement through the knee without discomfort from the edge of the stocking.
To give your legs the support they need, it’s important to chat with an expert to make sure that compression stockings are right for you. They might be enough to manage prevention, or you might need a little extra help with varicose vein treatment.
Find out if compression stockings are right for you.
At Delphi Clinic, we want you to feel confident and comfortable in your own skin. Whether that’s through a simple pair of well-fitted stockings or a more permanent vein treatment, our goal is to get you back on your feet without the ache.
Get in touch with us today to chat about what’s going on with your veins!
