Compression hosiery is widely used to maintain the correct, in terms of physiology, pressure in the lower extremities of a person. Such stockings are used in the complex treatment of varicose veins, as well as for the prevention of this disease. In medicine, special underwear for veins is called medical jersey. It is also called compression or anti-varicose underwear, medical jersey.
Tights, socks, as well as compression knee-highs for varicose veins are recommended to be worn by phlebologists. Such underwear should be worn for thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, lymphedema and other problems with the blood vessels of the extremities.
What kind of compression underwear is, which is better - compression tights or stockings, the doctor will tell and recommend during the appointment.
The therapeutic effect when using such underwear is manifested due to the fact that stockings, leggings or tights support the vessels, squeeze the dilated vein. This, in turn, evenly redistributes blood flow from dilated vessels to healthy ones.
Such underwear helps to activate blood circulation, improve tissue nutrition.
Choosing the right compression hosiery can help reduce the risk of blood clots.
Another important argument in favor of using such underwear is that there are almost no contraindications to the use of medical knitwear. It does not cause side effects, but at the same time it is a good method of preventing the progression of varicose veins and helps to maintain the veins in a physiological state.
How does compression garment work for varicose veins?
Earlier, when medical knitwear was not produced, elastic bandages were used for varicose veins. However, their use has several significant disadvantages.
- First of all, elastic bandages have to be applied for a long time, and in order to get the desired effect, this must be done correctly.
- An important disadvantage is the inability to wear an elastic bandage all the time. The non-aesthetic appearance does not allow you to wear it every day, while, for example, compression underwear and knitwear from other modern manufacturers looks very beautiful and aesthetically pleasing.
- Despite the fact that the bandages have a low price, it will not be possible to save money when wearing them. After all, such a bandage very quickly becomes unusable. Therefore, it is better to learn how to choose high-quality knitwear and buy compression underwear for varicose veins.
What is compression underwear for and what is its effect? Compressing the dilated veins, this knitted fabric accelerates blood flow through the deep veins. As a result, venous stasis is eliminated, which is a prerequisite for the development of varicose veins. Those who are interested in which compression underwear is better for varicose veins should take into account that it is worth buying high-quality products. After all, branded high-quality knitwear provides a graduated, that is, a gradual decrease in pressure from the wrist to the shoulder or from the lower leg to the thigh.
For example, a good online store of compression underwear for varicose veins offers stockings that provide maximum (100%) pressure in the lower leg and partial (40%) in the thigh area. It is this distribution that is the most correct from a physiological point of view, therefore, provides the greatest therapeutic effect. With this mode of pressure distribution, blood outflow is normalized due to the following effect:
- The work of the valve apparatus improves and returns to normal.
- The dilated lumen of the peripheral veins of the thighs and lower legs, especially the subcutaneous ones, decreases.
- The muscle pump effect is increased. When muscles contract during exercise, blood is pushed upward.
Effectively compression underwear for pregnant women. But during pregnancy, you need to select such jersey, guided by the individual recommendations of a doctor.
How to choose compression hosiery?
Before choosing compression hosiery for varicose veins, you need to clearly understand that such underwear cannot eliminate serious causes of venous insufficiency. Therefore, it is used before radical treatment. Medical jersey simulates the situation as if the veins that have expanded, removed or sealed.
In addition, it is important to understand that non-surgical treatment of leg diseases should always be comprehensive. Only in this case will the effect be maximized. It is very important not only to wear compression underwear, but also to use ointments and creams prescribed by a doctor, to practice folk remedies for the prevention and treatment of varicose veins, and also to lead a healthy lifestyle.
For the effect to be most noticeable, it is important to choose the right medical underwear. In this case, you need to take into account not only the reviews that can be read on the network, and the prices of linen, but also its quality, compression classes.
Compression hosiery is usually divided into three types:
- hospital - that is, one that is used exclusively in a hospital;
- medical;
- prophylactic.
But, regardless of whether jersey is needed for treatment or prevention, it should be bought exclusively in specialized stores or at outlets that are official dealers of manufacturers of such linen recognized by doctors. It is important that in such stores consumers must be assisted in choosing the right size for the jersey, since the effectiveness of the treatment depends on this. To find the perfect underwear, the salesperson first measures the leg at four locations. Next, a special size table is used, according to which stockings or tights are selected.
You can buy underwear in four degrees of compression:
- First class compression(18-21 mm Hg) - preventive jersey, the wearing of which is indicated in the following cases:
- during pregnancy;
- with a tendency to varicose veins;
- in the presence of the initial symptoms of varicose veins: if the veins are noticeable under the skin, after prolonged standing or sitting, the legs hurt, you can distinguish pronounced spider veins on the legs, and edema appears in the evening;
- if a person leads a lifestyle in which he is forced to sit or stand a lot - in the office, driving a car, behind a counter, etc.
- Second class of compression(23-32 mm Hg) - the most popular underwear. Compression hosiery of the 2nd class of compression is used for the treatment of varicose veins, thrombophlebitis. The hospital also uses compression class 2 hospital knitwear.
- Third class of compression(34-46 mm Hg) - compression tights of this class are used for patients with trophic disorders and severe venous insufficiency.
- Fourth class of compression(from 49 mm Hg) - this class is used very rarely - for men and women with lymphatic edema.
Before you buy stockings or tights for varicose veins, you should decide exactly what kind of underwear is better to buy. Those who buy anti-varicose tights for the first time should not immediately choose the 2nd class of compression. After all, it may well be that this will be too strong compression for the vascular system.
First, it is better to buy inexpensive underwear - the price of 1st class compression tights from some companies will be quite acceptable. After wearing it and gradually getting used to such underwear, you can later buy more expensive orthopedic tights for varicose veins.
For the purpose of prevention, only class 1 underwear is used. If a person is already developing varicose veins, then a phlebologist will help you choose tights. You should also ask your doctor about how to choose compression tights for pregnant women so that the expectant mother feels good when wearing such underwear. In this case, it is important to choose the size of anti-varicose tights or stockings so that they do not cause perceptible discomfort.
But no matter how enthusiastic the reviews about this or that underwear are, you need to understand that it will not work to cure varicose veins with its help, since wearing underwear does not eliminate the causes of the disease. Compression hosiery helps to stop the development of the disease and prevent the emergence of new varicose veins.
In hot summer weather, it is impossible to wear such underwear, therefore, during the summer, you need to use medications for varicose veins and use other methods to combat this disease.
In order not to damage the product and get the greatest effect, you need to know how to put on compression tights correctly - this is indicated in the instructions.
Regardless of what the price of such linen is, it can keep compression for about 5-7 months.
What you need to know when buying compression stockings?
Before purchasing such underwear, you need to clearly know how to choose the right compression stockings for varicose veins. Specific quality standards have been defined for compression garments. The most important and strict among them is the European RAL-GZ-387.
Any manufacturer seeking to produce knitwear that matches it must initially go through very strict certification in Switzerland or Germany. Therefore, if elastic orthopedic stockings for varicose veins have such a certificate, this indicates its high quality. Knitwear with such a certificate provides pressure that is distributed over the limb (40-70-100%) and is curative. The standard is evidenced by the packaging of products, as well as the presence of a special label.
To choose a good product, you need to focus not only on how much such knee-highs or stockings cost, but, first of all, on the manufacturer and the proven point of sale of the goods. Indeed, in the domestic market it is very easy to make a mistake and buy fake medical stockings or tights. In addition, in specialized stores, the buyer will definitely be prompted on how to determine the size, both for men and women. In trusted stores, you need to buy compression hosiery for pregnant women.
Since medical underwear is worn daily, it is very important to choose a hypoallergenic model. Therefore, you need to focus not on user reviews, but, first of all, on personal feelings. The Oeko-Tex Standard 10 sign of the European eco-friendliness standard must be present on the linen - this guarantees that the product is made of an allergy-free material.
How to put on compression stockings correctly?
When buying medicated jerseys, you need to know how to put on and how to wear properly such underwear.
Most often, people seeking to prevent the progression of varicose veins wear class 2 compression stockings. After all, both the efficiency and the price of compression class 2 compression stockings are often the most acceptable for the patient. Nevertheless, it often happens that products of the 2nd degree of compression are very uncomfortable for a person to wear. Moreover, most often the 2nd class of compression for men and women turns out to be inconvenient precisely because a person does not wear such a product correctly. After all, it cannot be worn like tights for a child, gathered in an accordion and pulling the stocking up to the thigh. Both tights and knee-highs or stockings should be put on slowly, gradually straightening them over the leg.
Such underwear will be difficult to put on for obese people. To facilitate this process, special tools can be purchased at the store. How much such devices cost depends on the manufacturer. Compression knitwear should be worn with gloves so as not to damage the linen with nails. In addition, if a person is wearing medical or other gloves, then the linen glides better.
If the underwear of the second compression class is uncomfortable to wear, in some cases you can limit yourself to the first class. Moreover, the price of compression class 1 compression stockings for women and men is lower. However, the price of stockings for varicose veins on the legs depends on other factors.
A person who wears medical jersey should have smooth feet - without roughness, calluses. Cut your toenails short and file them with a nail file to avoid puffs on your laundry.
It is better to put on such underwear in the morning, on rested and, accordingly, not swollen limbs. In this case, both legs and jerseys must be completely dry.
For those who are interested in whether it is possible to sleep in such stockings, you need to understand that there is no need for this, since during sleep the load on the limbs is minimal.
If the phlebologist prescribed the patient to wear class 3 products, it will be more difficult to put them on and, accordingly, more time will have to be spent on this. For this, it is better to use special devices.
If the size table provided on a particular site seems unclear, it is better to ask a specialist about how to choose the size of compression stockings for surgery or for everyday wear. After all, if the size is chosen incorrectly, both putting on and wearing such underwear will be extremely inconvenient.
It is important to take proper care of these items and know how to wash and dry them.
Compression garment care
When buying orthopedic underwear for women and men, you need to consider that it is most convenient to have at least two pairs of such jersey. After all, you need to wash it daily to get rid of dust, debris and dead skin particles, which can very quickly damage the fibers of the laundry.
Washing is carried out only by hand, using baby soap. Such linen cannot be washed in a typewriter. You need to wash at a temperature not exceeding 40 ° C. It is forbidden to iron and bleach it. Also, do not use conditioners and rinses. After all, they also destroy the structure of the constricting tissue.
Dry the compression hosiery by spreading it out on a horizontal surface. You cannot twist and wring it out, you can easily get wet with a towel. Drying of jersey in the sun, battery in a vertical position is not allowed.
You need to be very careful with the silicone strips, which are important for fixing the laundry. During washing, it is better not to wet them and wipe them with a disinfectant napkin.
What to wear with such products depends on the taste of the woman. But, as a rule, knitwear from modern manufacturers is very beautiful and elegant.
Contraindications for wearing compression underwear
Before choosing compression knee-highs for varicose veins, you need to clearly know if the patient has contraindications to wearing them. Medical jersey has several such contraindications.
There are categorical contraindications, as well as relative ones, in which it is allowed to wear such jersey after consulting with doctors - a cardiologist, dermatologist, endocrinologist.
Wearing medical jersey is absolutely contraindicated for such diseases:
- atherosclerosis;
- endoarteritis;
- orthoarteritis;
- thromboangiitis obliterans.
In such conditions, the lumen of the vessels decreases, and the systolic blood pressure drops to 80 mm. rt. Art. , therefore, it is strictly forbidden to reduce the pressure in the lower extremities.
Compression garments should be worn very carefully for those who have problems with the skin and high sensitivity of the skin.
You should not wear stockings or tights for allergic manifestations and inflammatory processes on the skin, as well as for dermatitis, bedsores, eczema, thrombophlebitis, open wounds.
If varicose veins are manifested as a result of diabetes, such underwear should also not be used. Compression hosiery is not used in the case of septic phlebitis, severe cardiopulmonary insufficiency, if circulatory problems are manifested at rest.
You can also find the opinion that jersey can provoke atrophy of the muscle layer of the walls of the veins. When a person stops wearing medical underwear, the opposite effect is likely, as a result of which the venous wall will stretch, and varicose veins will progress even more.
Of course, there is no way to check the condition of each vein in a person wearing such underwear. However, most phlebologists consider this theory to be erroneous, citing the following evidence in favor of this:
- a person cannot wear medical jersey around the clock;
- if the veins are compressed, then the blood flow in them decreases, but it does not stop;
- as a rule, atrophy of the muscle wall develops if a person has a genetic disposition, as well as if a local specific inflammatory process develops with venous stasis, and when using knitwear, these phenomena decrease;
- sometimes, after stopping the use of linen, initially a person feels a little worse, since for a while the tone of the venous wall decreases, but we are not talking about atrophy.
Also, after the end of the period of wearing such underwear, people with varicose veins may feel that it has become more difficult for them to walk. Therefore, many people choose not to give up wearing it.
Thus, compression garments, which have been used for many decades, are a convenient and effective method for the prevention and treatment of varicose veins. However, before you start using it, you need to consult with a phlebologist. The doctor will determine what the patient's condition is and will help to choose the most suitable product.