Valve Failure and Backward Blood Flow

Your valves have failed. That sentence can end a conversation, because it sounds like a diagnosis and a plan at once.

This article sets descriptions from the NHS, Cleveland Clinic and the Society for Vascular Surgery beside each other, names the assumption behind the sentence, and closes with a question.

How the NHS and Cleveland Clinic describe it

The NHS says varicose veins happen when the valves that control the flow of blood in your vein do not work properly. Cleveland Clinic describes the result as blood that can leak backward or flow in both directions.

What a drawing adds

The Society for Vascular Surgery illustrates a weak vein with valves that do not work properly, letting blood flow the wrong way toward the feet. The wording differs across the three sources, but each places the problem at the valve. For a related topic, read this entry on stasis dermatitis and ulcers.

The assumption underneath

A valve explanation assumes the person giving it has seen evidence of valve trouble in your legs. The general sources describe what valves do when they fail. They cannot tell you whether yours have.

The question that tests it

Ask what showed that my valves are the problem, and what other explanations were ruled out. Then read Cleveland Clinic's overview of chronic venous insufficiency and compare its wording with the answer you were given.