Varicose eczema
Varicose eczema occurs in around 10% of people who have varicose veins. It often starts with dryness of the skin which causes itching. As the eczma develops the skin becomes more itch and irritated with a flaky or scaly red rash or dermatitis.
The varicose eczema typically lies over the varicose vein itself and usually presents on the lower leg but can affect other areas of the body in some individuals. The most common area for the eczema is on the shin or calf.
Varicose eczema can be treated with topical corticosteroid creams but this does not solve the problem.
In order to treat varicose eczema properly the underlying problem needs to be treated, namely the varicose veins. We don’t fully understand the origin of varicose eczema, however when you have varicose veins the blood flow is often very sluggish and is running down the leg rather than back to the heart. This means that toxins and metabolites in the blood are not cleared properly and extravasation of these products into the skin can cause irritation and inflammation leading to the varicose eczmea changes.
In our experience once the varicose veins are treated the circulation is normalised, the toxins are removed from the skin and the eczema settles quite quickly in the majority of cases.
