The Veins of the Pelvis and Legs

To understand where vulval and vaginal varicose veins come from, and how we can treat them, we need to have some understanding of the veins in the leg and pelvis.

On the right is a picture showing the main veins that are involved.

Blood gets pumped from the legs, up through the veins in the pelvis and abdomen, and back to the heart.

Blood also flows back from the kidneys, through the Renal Veins, to join this flow to the heart.

In normal people, blood flows up from the ovaries in the Ovarian Veins (or from the testicles in men through the testicular veins), joining the main veins as shown in the diagram.


If the valves give up in the veins, pump failure occurs and the blood falls backwards down the veins (ie: goes THE WRONG WAY). This is explained in www.veins.co.uk.

If this happens in the Saphenous veins in legs, you get Varicose veins (see www.veins.co.uk) or leg ulcers (see www.legulcers.co.uk).

If it happens in the Ovarian or Pelvic veins, you can get Vulval Varicose Veins, Vaginal Varicose Veins or Pelvic Congestion.

The purpose of this web site is to explain how this happens and how we are developing our method of diagnosing and treating this at The Whiteley Clinic.