Compression socks are your friend

Tuesday, January 9, 2024 ~ Updated 2:24 PM

Dr. Colleen Moore, owner and vascular surgeon at InVein

Dr. Colleen Moore, owner and vascular surgeon at InVein in Cape Girardeau, wants people to know vein treatment is a medical issue; Medicare covers the treatment of varicose veins. If your veins bother you, she says it’s worthwhile to get evaluated: The treatments are simple and performed in-office. When patients come into her practice, she evaluates them herself, to design a customized treatment plan.

With more than 20 years of experience, including seven years of general surgery training and an additional two years of vascular surgery specialty training, Moore opened InVein in Doctors Park Oct. 2, 2023. In addition to publishing numerous articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, she is a member of the the American Venous and Lymphatic Society, the American Venous Forum, and the Society for Vascular Surgery, where she has served on multiple boards.

One simple solution to leg swelling Moore recommends is compression socks: They can benefit people of any age, especially those who are on their feet while working in health care, education and factories. She enjoys wearing the socks while she travels.

“They reduce the amount of swelling you have; you have more energy at the end of the day,” Moore says. “The more you wear them, the better you feel, and the less leg swelling you have, and the less vein trouble you will have. And it can work as a treatment and as a preventative.”

Here, Moore shares three things patients should know about this noninvasive method of vein treatment:

1. Compression socks treat a variety of conditions, including lymphedema, varicose veins and leg swelling.

Varicose veins don’t work correctly, causing blood to pool in the veins located in the calves. This causes them to become dilated, which causes swelling. Compression socks squeeze the legs to keep veins compressed, preventing swelling, while moving fluids out of the calves.

“Nobody thought a pair of socks could do that,” Moore says.

2. A fitting takes approximately 10 minutes.

Compression socks are constructed with fibers that constrict the leg; they fit tighter near the ankle and less tight at the calf, so they can squeeze tighter at the bottom and funnel fluids up the leg. Moore says it’s best to come in for a fitting early in the morning, because the legs have less swelling then.

At a fitting, Moore measures the patient’s calf and ankle, and finds the correct size based on those measurements.

“If they’re easy to get on, they’re not the right size,” Moore says. “They should be a little difficult to get on, they should be a little difficult to get off.”

3. Compression socks can be fun.

Patients can get compression socks in nylon trouser socks, knee highs, thigh highs or pantyhose with or without toes in flesh tones, navy, black and gray. Or, there are cotton compression socks that come in a variety of patterns, such as holiday themes, paisleys and National Football League team logos.

“You can make them fun,” Moore says. “People always say, ‘My grandma had to wear these white stockings,’ and they’re not those anymore.”

21 Doctors Park, Ste. A

Cape Girardeau

(573) 837-4131

www.Inveinclinic.com