Chronic Venous Insufficiency Overview
A label like chronic venous insufficiency can make a diagnosis feel settled before anyone has shown you what supports it. Cleveland Clinic says chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) happens when leg veins become damaged and cannot work as they should. Cleveland Clinic also says it happens when the valves in leg veins do not work properly. Cleveland Clinic says it affects about 1 in 20 adults overall.
A common condition is easy to treat as routine. Ask what in your own legs supports the label, and which part of the plan follows from it. This encyclopedia entry on stasis dermatitis and ulcers covers a skin change that readers often meet while reading about this condition.
The pages in this section
Each of the four pages below tests one assumption a CVI plan may rest on. Cleveland Clinic's overview of chronic venous insufficiency is a good general reference to keep beside them.
- Leg Elevation for Venous Insufficiency Relief: tests whether a self-care instruction has been matched to your situation.
- Exercise and Weight Loss for Venous Insufficiency: tests whether general lifestyle advice is the plan or only the start of one.
- Valve Failure and Backward Blood Flow: tests whether a valve problem has been confirmed in your own legs.
- Treatment Goals for Chronic Venous Insufficiency: tests whether a plan says what it is trying to achieve before it lists procedures.
Questions to ask before you agree
Put the same questions to every proposal and compare how each office answers.
- What was examined to reach this diagnosis?
- What is this plan trying to achieve, and how will we know?
- Which parts of the advice are general, and which were chosen for me?
- If the plan is not enough, what comes next?