And the Emergency Chain that Saved Him. - St. Joseph Medical ...

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Sleep Disorders ‰ VARICOSE VEIN SYMPTOMS • Aching legs that feel heavy and sometimes painful • Enlarged, bulging veins • Ankle and calf swelling • Brown discoloration at the ankles • Skin ulcers near ankles in severe cases For complications such as sudden increase in pain or swelling, redness, fever or leg ulcers, see your doctor. section of bone from the affected joint, or replace the entire joint with an implant. Bunions often run in families. Wearing tight shoes doesn’t cause bunions, but can make them worse. Various surgeries are available to remove the bony bump and straighten the bone structure. Dr. Tina Woodburn’s Foot Soak and Massage for Callused Feet: 1. Add to a basin of water: Fresh lemon wedges, mint leaves and peppermint oil, or a lavender and tea tree oil blend 2. Place smooth river rocks in the basin and rub your feet on them 3. Pat your feet dry, use a pumice stone to remove dead skin, and use a moisturizer such as Aqua Glycolic. YOU’RE NOT VEIN! Vaporizing Achy-Breaky Varicose Veins a cosmetic nuisance that makes women feel self-conscious to a health hazard. They can cause ach- Varicose leg veins can vary from ing legs, chronic leg swelling and, even, lead to leg cramps or restless leg syndrome at night. Some very serious conditions such as blood clots or phlebitis occasionally result. Although many women develop varicose veins during pregnancy, both men and women can be at risk for these bluish, often bulging, veins. Risk factors include having a job that keeps you sitting or standing for hours—which is just plain unhealthy, according to Dr. Wayne Reichman, vascular surgeon with a specialty in varicose vein treatment. “Laser therapy vaporizes the vein and has a very high success rate.” Dr. Wayne Reichman, vascular surgeon “When you walk, your calf muscles act like a bellow that forces blood to flow up to your heart,” he says. Long periods of sitting and standing can cause the blood to pool in the legs, creating a pressure buildup that leads to enlarged, bulging veins. Extra abdominal weight—whether due to pregnancy or being overweight—can be another contributing factor. Leaky vein valve In normal veins, blood moves toward the heart. A varicose vein usually indicates that a valve is not closing properly. “The problem occurs upstream from the varicose veins. At the inner junction in the groin, there’s a valve that’s leaking blood back into the leg,” explains Dr. Reichman. Amazing laser One of the newest treatments to eradicate varicose veins is called Endovenous Laser Therapy (EVLT ® ). “Laser therapy vaporizes the vein and has a very high success rate,” says Dr. Reichman, who uses the laser to seal the leaky valve so that the varicose vein doesn’t recur. Disappearing veins “No harm is done by closing the valve,” reassures Dr. Reichman. The superficial vein system, where varicose veins occur, carries only ten percent of the leg’s blood flow. When the valve is shut, the body compensates by moving all the blood flow through the deep venous system, where 90 percent of the blood has flowed previously. This outpatient procedure takes approximately 20 minutes. Patients return home with their leg in a compression wrap, which stays on overnight. Following treatment, “the varicose veins in 70 percent of patients gradually shrink and disappear in one to two months,” says Dr. Reichman. For large veins that don’t shrink, there are two other procedures: A microphlebectomy involves a tiny puncture though which the doctor pulls out the vein, barely leaving a scar. The other, called schlerotherapy, is a vein injection with a solution that will cause the vein to seal and disappear. For people with minor or cosmetic varicose vein problems, Dr. Reichman recommends keeping your legs elevated while sitting and wearing support stockings while standing. For a Physician referraL Call our Doctors Directory at 410-337-1337 or go to www.StJosephTowson.com St. Joseph Medical Center / StJosephTowson.com 11
7601 Osler Drive Towson, MD 21204-7582 Non Profit Rate US Postage PAID Mechanicsburg, PA Permit No. 301 Heart Series see page 9. In partnership with the American Heart Association. Jeffrey K. Norman President and CEO Walter Furlong VP of Strategy and Business Development Vivienne Stearns-Elliott Writing, Project Management Patti Wells Inspired Giving Writer Baltimore magazine’s Custom Communications Design and Printing Christine Langr, Stacy Zarin Photography Comments, requests, change of address Contact us at 410-337-1337 or housecall@catholichealth.net. Discover our latest advance in emergency care. At St. Joseph Medical Center, we’ve re-engineered our ER process. Now care begins in minutes. In fact, the wait time to see a healthcare professional and begin care is now just 14 minutes, on average. And total time in the ER has been shortened by 25%. You’ll find caring physicians to treat any type of emergency, from pediatric to geriatric. We also have heart, stroke, orthopaedic and gastroenterology specialists available. And a recent HealthStream survey shows that 80% of our patients would recommend the St. Joseph ER to a friend. That puts St. Joseph in the 96 th percentile of all hospitals surveyed. See how our ER care is better and faster than ever before at ShorterERwait.com. CheCk our Current er wait time at ShorterERwait.com Shorter wait times. Winner 2009 Top Innovator of the Year Award by The Daily Record.
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