Signs and symptoms
Aching, heavy legs
Appearance of spider veins (telangiectasia) in the affected leg
Ankle swelling
A brownish-yellow shiny skin discoloration near the affected veins
Redness, dryness, and itchiness of areas of skin, termed stasis dermatitis or venous eczema
Muscle cramps when making sudden movements, such as standing
Abnormal bleeding or healing time for injuries in the affected area
Lipodermatosclerosis or shrinking skin near the ankles
Restless legs syndrome appears to be a common overlapping clinical syndrome in people with varicose veins and other chronic venous insufficiency
Atrophie blanche, or white, scar-like formations
Burning or throbbing sensation in the legsPeople with varicose veins might have a positive D-dimer blood test result due to chronic low-level thrombosis within dilated veins (varices). Complications
Most varicose veins are reasonably benign, but severe varicosities can lead to major complications, due to the poor circulation through the affected limb. Pain, tenderness, heaviness, inability to walk or stand for long hours
Skin conditions / dermatitis which could predispose skin loss
Skin ulcers especially near the ankle, usually referred to as venous ulcers
Development of carcinoma or sarcoma in longstanding venous ulcers. Over 100 reported cases of malignant transformation have been reported at a rate reported as 0.4% to 1%
Severe bleeding from minor trauma, of particular concern in the elderly
Blood clotting within affected veins, termed superficial thrombophlebitis. These are frequently isolated to the superficial veins, but can extend into deep veins, becoming a more serious problem. Acute fat necrosis can occur, especially at the ankle of overweight people with varicose veins.
Arthritis mutilans is a rare medical condition involving severe inflammation damaging the joints of the hands and feet, and resulting in deformation and problems with moving the affected areas; it can also affect the spine. As an uncommon arthropathy, arthritis mutilans was originally described as affecting the hands, feet, fingers, and/or toes, but can refer in general to severe derangement of any joint damaged by arthropathy. First described in modern medical literature by Marie and Leri in 1913, in the hands, arthritis mutilans is also known as opera glass hand (la main en lorgnette in French), or chronic absorptive arthritis. Sometimes there is foot involvement in which toes shorten and on which painful calluses develop in a condition known as opera glass foot, or pied en lorgnette. Signs and symptoms
For a person with arthritis mutilans in the hands, the fingers become shortened by arthritis, and the shortening may become severe enough that the hand looks paw-like, with the first deformity occurring at the interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal joints. The excess skin from the shortening of the phalanx bones becomes folded transversely, as if retracted into one another like opera glasses, hence the description la main en lorgnette. As the condition worsens, luxation, phalangeal and metacarpal bone absorption, and skeletal architecture loss in the fingers occurs. Cause
Arthritis mutilans occurs mainly in people who have pre-existing psoriatic arthritis, but can occur, if less often, in advanced rheumatoid arthritis; it can also occur independently.